With a Little Help from My Friends by Bea Tifton

 Through the years I have been lucky to have made some really good friends. My friends have also been very diverse. Now, I tend to have friends in several different groups. I have my more conservative friends, my tree hugging friends, my music friends, etc. Many, if not all, dance to their own tune, and although I do as well, we find a harmonious way to interact. We’ve had quite a few adventures.

When I was in college, my best friend at the time and I took the train to New York City. We had a stopover at Chicago, and her aunt picked us up at the station. We went to the Sears Tower, then down to a basement pizza restaurant to sample real Chicago style pizza, ears still popping from the elevator at the Tower.  When we got to New York, my cousin met us at the station and let us stay with him for a couple of days. We felt very grown up as we walked around New York City by ourselves. Contrary to what we’d been told, the people of New York were pretty friendly, although I had to speak when we needed something because my friend’s Texas accent was so pronounced that no one could understand a word she said.

Now I have two very different best friends. One of them is a Libertarian married to the love of her life with two grown children. We don’t talk politics or religion, but we always have plenty to say to each other. Even going to Target together is fun. But a word of advice. Don’t get into plastic sword fights at a party supply store when helping your friend shop for her school's Pirate Day costume. The store employees don't like that.

My other best friend is a gay man who goes to my church. We try to eat together once a month after church, just the two of us, no matter what. We talk and talk, solving all the world’s problems, telling scandalous stories from our youth (No, I’m not telling going into those. That’s a blog for another day), or simply talking about what we want to do, where we want to go, what we’ve read, or what we’d like to happen in the future.

It’s so nice to have two such different perspectives from people I trust so completely.  Remember the immortal words of Bernard Meltzer, “A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows you are slightly cracked.”