As secondary and college aged students head back to school, I thought I would reflect on the topic of friendships, those formed early on in life, like in elementary school or high school, and those formed during the different seasons we go through in life. I’m a 90s junkie, so my reflections here are riddle with old school sitcom and pop culture references, thus the title of this essay, “What About Your Friends?”, the title of a TLC hit that was popular during my college years.
In the 90s we had TV shows like Martin, Living Single, Girlfriends, and Friends that focused on friendships. They all had strong friend groups. Over the years I've developed some great relationships with people. College? Work experiences? Different parts of the country? Different backgrounds? How have strong friendships shaped your life? Have your friendships been long lasting? When we are young we experience breakups, etc. As we grow older, in our 40s, we experience marriages, divorces, child births, graduations, housewarmings, deaths, health scares, etc. Have your friends been there for you? If so, how? Vice Versa, how have you been there for them? Do you consider yourself a good friend?
When the topic of friends comes up, I’m reminded of the song, “What About Your Friends”, by the group, TLC. In the 90s we also had TV shows like Martin, Living Single, Girlfriends, and Friends that focused on friendships. One thing these shows had in common was that they all had strong friendship groups. Over the years I’ve developed some great relationships with people, some becoming some of my BFFs from various walks of life. In college, I met some of the best girlfriends I’ll ever have and I can now say that I’ve known them the longest, about 20 + years at this point. I’ve also worked and lived in various places and I’ve made some great friends from work experiences? I’ve also acquired a diverse group of friends and acquaintances who live in different parts of the country as well as are native to different parts of the world who have different backgrounds, life, and educational experiences. I’m proud of that. I’m also glad that, over the years, I have been able to be open minded and welcoming, which has allowed me to accept different people into my life, some of whom I may not have ever met, if I hadn’t been open to making new friends. I guess that’s why my friends call me the “social butterfly” with the ability to bring people together and I guess that’s how I ended up in the field of Event Planning and enjoy it so much. It’s the people.
How have strong friendships shaped your life? Have your friendships been long lasting? When we are young we experience breakups, etc. As we grow older, especially in our 30s and 40s, we experience marriages, divorces, child births, graduations, housewarmings, deaths, caregiving, health scares, etc. Have your friends been there for you? If so, how? And vice versa, how have you been there for them? Do you consider yourself a good friend? And if you don’t think you currently have a good solid friend group, do you think you need one? If so, how do you plan to make that happen? And lastly, does being in your 40s,make it easier or harder to make friends or keep the ones you have in your life?
Oof, this is a complicated one for me. A handful of very close friends scattered around that I try to see more than once a year. A lot of old friends that I've lost touch with too. Friendship is so important, yet can be so hard to maintain sometimes.