Only have one left. Most of mine have died and they weren't all that old. Ages 41, 51 and 51. Don't have the time, energy or desire to make any new friends.

It’s true you won’t have many friends if your expectation is they will never do anything to hurt you mentally or physically. lol

My wife is my best friend.
There are those who volunteer their time to help us at the food shelf. I appreciate their unselfishness and consider them friends.
My youngest daughter and her husband are my second best friends.

After 50+ years of being an insurance agent and having dealt with so many people over the years, I prefer to live almost in solitude now. I rarely ever answer the phone at our house or my cell phone. My wife does usually. I want to spend my last days in my woods cutting wood, killing buckthorn and prickly ash. I started trapping pocket gophers too.

A lot of good insight on here. As many others have said, I definitely consider my family to be my best friends but I was talking about non-family friends. To be honest, I don't really WANT friends, lol... it just seems as though society expects you to have them.

After seeing him post on here, I realized that I do have one person I would put in the category of friend that I know I can rely on 100%. And I guess he considers my husband and I friends too as we passed his criteria to take trapping, hahaha.

Like Cathryn, I've also never really got along well with women and most of my friends have always been men.

I do have a lot of acquaintances, mostly work "friends" and trapping acquaintances.

Since many of you seem to think considering family members as friends is good enough, then I guess my family and dogs and 1 lone friend will be good enough for me too.

Looks like most of you have a pretty high minimum.

My friends have all moved away. Family life keeps me busy now so really only have work friends now although I have fished with a few of them.

Reading this thread and thinking back to my parents times. Used to be less people and better/more true friends. Times were slower and life was comprised more of hard work (labor)and relationships relying on each other. The electronic age mixed in with political divisions has bred times of less trust and more greed. Greed of money, time, power and self importance without earning it. Socialism ideology, destruction of family and friends.

A "friend" will post bail for you. A "Good Friend" will be in the cell next to yours, saying "Dang, that was fun." .


FW IW, I've never put that to a test.



Charlie

This is very correct.^ The underlined part is right on.

My circle has become very small and is composed almost entirely of family.

Maybe 4 "friends"

I never really learned to make friends, my parents were alcoholics, they did not allow us to have others over to play, we were not allowed out of the yard for years, we plead games with each other for a long time !

This continued in schools till about high school but by then cast was set, I kept to myself never hung around with any after school, I did make a couple real good friends in my senior year but we never kept track much, had a couple more later on in work that I met, but they moved away and were not so interested in keeping in touch.

I have more friends on here than anything that we keep in touch with each our pretty regular with jokes and family stuff !

I guess I'm just saying that one doesn't need others to move along in life, it's probably great to have others to lean on once in a while though, mostly why people think me insolent or rude, because I just talk directly and don't sugar coat anything, there isn't time for that really !

I think it is good to have regular contact with people who know you fairly well and will talk truth/reality. Does not have to be face to face either..

I don’t think keeping in touch matter to friends.

It’s always amazed Chris how I will go into my buddy Kevin’s freezer and take steaks or whatever and he will walk into my place and open the freezer and get fish or whatever you like for over 25 years this has amazed her but like we say real friends don’t need permission

My circle of friends is dwindling. More die every year.

I call more trappers friends than anyone else. There were four of us that graduated together, that went into the service together, did everything together, even dated a few of the same girls! Two are gone now, and the other I just ran into the other day, after not seeing in over ten years. Still friends, but not close like we were. Life gets in the way, most times. Had many that I tried to trust as friends, but most just wanted something from me. Life’s journey is interesting, but filled with pitfalls. Marty did a good job of explaining many of these, and he is a good dude, even if he grew up in NY!

I have two categories.
Wonderful acquaintances. I have had hundreds of those over the years.
Favorite people of all time. I have had a single handful of them. Two of them died, but they live on in my heart and memories.

Some of the wonderful acquaintances are more wonderful than others, and I became more acquainted with them, but i tend not to allow myself to get close to them. If and when we part company, such as generally happens in life, I feel nothing. Oh I miss them somewhat but I ain't broke down over it.

Of those on my Favorite People of All Time list, it turns out that they are so much like me in so many ways that it is spooky.
I am very comfortable in my own skin and have been for a long time, so it makes sense that I would find myself drawn to someone just like myself.
I guess that since I allow myself to get close to them because they are just like me, it is a reflexion of how I should feel about myself.
As I said, I am very comfortable in my own skin, but who doesn't need a boost in their self esteem from time to time.
Now when one of my Favorites has died, or got married and moved across country, I'll cry and get a knot in my gut that can't be made to go away. It has to run its course. Once that unpleasant episode passes, I smile from ear to ear and am thankful for ever having had the chance to meet them, let alone gotten to know them.

In all cases, I do not seek out friendships. I am by no means a recluse, but I never wake up in the morning to go out and see if I can make friends with someone today. I live my life in the moment. I can't help but meet people, and I just see where it goes. Usually it just doesn't go very far.

Thanks Lee.

Marty had a good write up.

I’d say I have 0 friends. My wife will say I have lots of friends and everyone wants to be my friend, but I correct her and tell her no, they just want something from me.
I need 4 people to help me carry something into my house down in the basement in 4-6 weeks and I can’t think of one person to ask. My wife just asked me who’s coming to help. I said I don’t know.

I put a lot of time into my family, and now the kids are turning into teenagers and Dad is not cool. Go figure.

A friend is someone you can call at 2 am to come bail you out of jail, and they do so cheerfully. A really good friend sits beside you in the cell and says "man that was a blast".