June 28, 2008

I think to be a well-balanced person, you’ve got to have at least one friend who is 30 years younger than you and one who is 30 years older. Okay, all you twenty-somethings, don’t be sending me any comments about how “no one is thirty years younger than you.” There is no need to rub it in. I’m pretty sure we’re safe on the other side of the scale – I don’t think the blog really appeals to the eighty and up crowd – but I’d totally love it if the 70-somethings were blog fans – how cool would that be?

Hmmm. What was I looking for again? Oh yeah, the point. I love the kind of smiles young-er and old-er friends give me. Like when my five-year-old says, “rav-a-rolly” (instead of ravioli) and then his Grandma gives me the best rav-a-rolly recipe. (And speaking of smiles, no one smiles bigger than grandma when the five-year-old is funny).

When I was very young, just married, I joined a bookgroup in my neighborhood. It consisted of me, in all my 20-year-old glory, and ten women, the next youngest not a day less than 70. Talk about a good time! We spent the first 15 to 20 minutes of each book group talking about aches, pains, and funerals. I didn’t have a lot to contribute but I liked listening. Then we’d get into the book. Those women picked some of the coolest books to read and talk about insightful! When we moved, I missed those girls fiercely. No one ever loved me the way they did.

You cannot have a realistic life-perspective if you don’t have age-flavor in the people surrounding you. Who are your flavored friends? How do they give you perspective?

By the way, I think it’s critical for all five-year-olds to have at least three seventy-year-old friends and vice versa. Joey and his grandpa are best buds (picture above). Neither could do without the other for very long.