You've Got A Friend

The title is a song from 1971 that was originally written and performed by Carole King. It was made famous later that year by James Taylor's cover version and reached No 1 in the charts.

So where would we be without friends? Yes, we all have families and obviously we inherit our Mum and Dad's genes and they help mould us into the adults we are today, however we are also influenced in some way by the people we meet along life's path. We begin to make friendships in school but it is something that we continue to do where ever our lives take us. We choose our friends. Some friends we lose along the way for various reasons but the friendships we form can be so different. For example, we could have a best friend, someone who we share an extremely strong interpersonal tie with, we may have an "associate" who could be someone who we work with but would not want to look to them for emotional support, or we may even have an imaginary friend, someone who is non-physical - normally created by a child but can be created also by adults.

I have made many friends over the years. Sadly, only one from my school days still keeps in touch with me. You see, I joined the Army and obviously moved away from where I grew up. I wrote to all my friends constantly for the first 2 years but only one wrote back to me and kept in touch. Surprisingly, she was not the "friend" I thought that would keep in touch. I have never forgotten that and we went from being just friends to what I call special friends. (I have never liked the term best friend because I feel that all my friends are special in their own way). I keep in touch with friends I made in the Army and also people who I have met in work and who have moved on. Latterly, I have made friends through Twitter and Blip.

The photo is a little book I was given by a very good work colleague who not only left the company I was working for but also moved to a different country. I was quite touched to receive it in the post after she left.

Life would be so glum without friends and acquaintances and I treasure the ones I have. We can learn so much from these people and they do leave some sort of impression on us.