Today’s presentation will be a virtual meeting.
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I was born into an unhappy family and so grew up mistrustful of people and with no understanding of friendship. As I grew older, maybe wiser, with help from therapy, I began to feel less mistrustful and more appreciative of people. In 1990 I met two women at a Tai Chi class, and we became fast friends. We were the three Musketeers. We celebrated every holiday and birthday, went to Tai Chi together, met weekly and socialized with our respective partners. In 2005 one friend died. A fellow choir member knew her stepson so asked me to give him my condolences. I said sure but what about me? She apologized; said she had never lost a friend so did not understand. You can buy a condolence card for every family member but not for a friend. Seems to me our culture does not value friendship highly enough.

Friend is a word like love, used to cover a range of experiences. HAT strives to create a community of friendship and many members have expanded their HAT connections beyond HAT activities into a deeper friendship, but I am not sure these can compare with a 30 plus year friendship.
For many, their life partner is their best friend but, for those of us who do not have a loving partner or a supportive family, deep friendships are especially important. I have a fridge magnet that says “Friends are family you choose yourself”.

So, my questions:
Do we live in a culture that doesn't value friendship?
Are friends Important to you? How is this demonstrated?
How do you define a friend?
Are women better at friendship than men?
What makes a good friend?
Are you a good friend to someone? What unique role do you feel you fill for them?
How has friendship changed over recent years?