What are friends for?

I feel very fortunate to have many friends in my life. This is all the more significant since I don't have much family to speak of. I was adopted while very young, and my adoptive family members have all passed away except for a cousin who lives in my hometown in Germany and whom I haven't seen for many years. Therefore, my friends have become my family.

I remember making my first two friends, Walter and Adolf, when I was only seven years old, attending the second grade in Lich, Germany. They took me under their wing while accompanying me on nature hikes and tree climbing adventures. A few years later, after I had emigrated to the U.S. with my dad, and was living with a foster family in Cincinnati, Ohio, I bonded with a twelve-year old boy named Patrick who accompanied me on his paper routes, and showed me how to play baseball. However, because I had to move so much growing up, I always found it hard to make new friends.

As an adult, I've always had one or two close friends whom I could lean on for support. There was Bob whom I met at a rooming house we lived at with whom I eventually shared an apartment for two years. We both enjoyed playing guitar, taking long walks around the lakes, and talking about everything under the sun. A few years later, there was George whom I met at a Christmas party hosted by our nursing home supervisor. We also bonded through music. We spent a lot of time listening to our favorite records or playing music at various nursing homes. He played dobro on my very first studio recording. Unfortunately, he died of heart failure and cancer when he was only 57. Another good friend of mine named Layah, who was a talented songwriter, committed suicide the same year George died.

I've gotten to know quite a few friends through music. Brad I got to know while helping a mutual friend start a coffeehouse in the basement of a church. And I met Mary at another church I joined over thirty-five years ago. We've been singing and playing music together for more than twenty years. Yes, I don't know what I'd do without these lasting friendships that have enriched my life and sustained me throughout the years.