Revisiting the subject of friends

A recent Facebook post about friendships sent me back to this post from last year.
Then this morning I ran across this post on friends.

Hmmm...
Only room for eight people around your death bed, eh?

I guess I'm not too concerned about that. As I wrote in my post, you can only control what you can control. I know that time and distance often have a way of keeping us from being present when others are in need. My own family is spread out across the country and I would not expect that they would run to be physically by my side in a time of need. They still have their own kids and own busy lives to deal with. Sure, they would try to make arrangements to come to my aid if I needed it, but I doubt that will ever really be the case.

I guess we should be aware of the people that we can count on in times of need, but shouldn't we also be aware of the people that can count on us in their times of need -- you know, the people that don't even need to ask; the ones that you just show up because they need a friend and they aren't at all surprised to see you.

I suppose that we all have a few people for whom we would do anything; others for whom we would go to varying lengths of service to be with and comfort or help. In the end, I suppose that my list is pretty short. And I suppose that the list of people that have me on their list is also a short one.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that we are unfriendly. I think that it is possible for us to have large numbers of people that we enjoying being with -- people that are our friends -- with whom we really have no meaningful relationships.

Whom do you count on?
And who counts on you?

John <><