Friends will be friends

I'm still pretty fried. My commute to work this morning was frustrating (a 15-minute drive took nearly an hour), and my motivation is at low tide. I have this strong desire to hang out in the hot tub with a pint of ice cream. Too much to do for that, though. Maybe I'll at least get to sit around and watch football and stitch tonight, after I do some web updates.

Sorry to continue being unoriginal, but I'm going to lay another meme on you - last week's Friday Forum.

1] What qualities in a friendship are most important to you?
Honesty, trust, and respect.

2] Who is your oldest friend [in terms of how long you've known the person]? Who is your newest friend? How did you meet both of them, and why do you get along so well?
My oldest friend (in terms of length of time known) with whom I still have some sort of regular contact, I've known since 4th grade. We don't communicate extremely frequently, maybe email every month or so, but we've managed to keep in contact since high school. We were both in the 'geeky' crowd throughout most of our school tenure, and have oddball senses of humor (ah, pun wars!).

My newest...well, that's hard to say. There are folks from the stitching BBs that I've known for a while and am communicating with more often of late. The newest in-person friend, I met on my recent overseas trip. He's a good friend of a close friend of the family, who figured he'd get on well with DH and I. Good call.

3] Have you ever met someone, become really close friends with them, and then drifted apart for some reason? How did it happen, and did you ever try to get back in touch with that person?
It often happens. I've reestablished contact with various folks who were friends in high school, then we drift apart again because there's very little common interest anymore. People change, and sometimes friends can go in opposite directions. I've also had close friends at a previous job, and when either they or I left the job, there wasn't really a common bond anymore.

4] Do you feel that men and women can be good friends? Why/why not? Do you have any close friends of the opposite sex?
I believe that they can. I'd wager that up until recently, more of my close friends have been male than female - falling into the 'geek' crowd in elementary school where I was the only female, and continuing through college when I was in predominantly male classes, I had a lot more in common with them. And not exactly being Miss America material, I tended to have 'sister' or 'one of the guys' roles instead of 'prospective date'. The gender ratio of friends (and close friends) has shifted, but I do still have male close friends. One of whom is one of DH's oldest friends (the 'friend of the family' mentioned above).

5] Do you tend to make friends easily? Why/why not? Do you have many online friends? Which of your friends lives the closest to you?
I think I make friends easily, although close friends take a bit more time. I make friends more easily than I used to - I was terribly shy growing up, and just being more outgoing and treating people with respect has helped.

Do I have many online friends? *laugh* I probably have more online friends than friends I've met live, and there are a couple of online folks that I consider close friends.

Which of my friends lives closest to me...well, there's a couple who are friends with DH and I that live about half a mile south of us. And both of our regular gaming buddies live about 2-3 miles north.