If you're going to have friends, make sure they're talented.

Admittedly, I'm not much on socializing.  There have been periods of my life where I was in the stay-out-until-3am crowd but as a whole, I've stayed to myself.  As I've gotten older, I've become more reserved and definitely more appreciative of the few friends I do keep close.  They're the kind that totally out of the blue can offer the most unique perspective on any given topic and know they can be completely blunt, and often harsh, with me and it won't be taken personally.  They're also the kind that have rare talents; the "lost arts" that are getting more obsure and obsolete by the day as people's lives become busier.  Two are gifted musicians, another can bake the most delectable treats (especially German faire), and my buddy Barb can knit or crochet anything she sets her mind to and can even come up with her own patterns or modify existing ones to suit the occasion.  And she's quick.  It's like her needles have their own Riverdance rhythm.  Like if hunmmingbirds could Riverdance.  She works a full-time job and can still crank out the most beautiful creations in nothing flat with the blinding flurry of her fingers.  When she found out I was buying an older home, she said that as a housewarming gift she would make me a doily of my choice and brought me a huge stack of needlework magazines to choose a pattern.  I decided on one that looked sturdy but still dainty, as I'd love it to last the rest of my life.  Two or three days later, she brought me two doilies, exactly as they had appeared in the magazine photo.  She was working on a similar, but more complicated one that is massive in the doily world.  It's probably thirty inches across.  I asked her what she was going to do with it and she said she didn't know, so I offered to buy it from her.  Again, two or three days later, I found it on my desk.  She refused to take payment and just told me "happy housewarming."  Now, if she could just crochet me a new shower and a two-car garage, I'd be in business............

One of the two smaller ones (maybe 12" across)

The mack daddy