My childhood was exactly the opposite of you. I lived on a farm not close to anyone, and had only one sibling six years younger than I. I went to a one-room country school where I was continually bullied (I was the only one wearing glasses, I has psoriasis, and wore high-top shoes because of a leg deformity). As a result, I never learned to "play," and play is important to relationship-building. It continues to be a struggle, but as my mother-in-law put it, "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better!"
As we say in Masonry - "So mote be." This is an extremely interesting and poignant article for the current times. Some random thoughts:
My placed-base friends came not only from the neighborhood but also from my college fraternity and after 50 years, our friendship and love between us still remains strong.
Interestingly, as life went on, I used these college friendships as my yardstick when encountering potential new placed-base friendships. It sounds crazy but true, and my yardstick never failed me.
With all my "true" friendships even if we have not seen one another for years, after ten minutes or so, it is like no time has passed because the bond is so strong.
You are on to something big, Lance. I just read two more articles where people in their 50's are lining up to take courses on how to form friendships. Something happened to that group that put them in some kind of wasteland without the skills you and I had for connecting and learning rapidly who could be loyal and loving vs who had some kind of abusive streak that would make them never trust and not "give back."
Thank you for telling your story. That's what this community wants--real stories about the tremendous variations and intensities we see in gifted professionals and communicators. We are striving to cover the stories of the adults and the childhood backgrounds seem to be as fascinating as the adults.
My childhood was exactly the opposite of you. I lived on a farm not close to anyone, and had only one sibling six years younger than I. I went to a one-room country school where I was continually bullied (I was the only one wearing glasses, I has psoriasis, and wore high-top shoes because of a leg deformity). As a result, I never learned to "play," and play is important to relationship-building. It continues to be a struggle, but as my mother-in-law put it, "Every day in every way I'm getting better and better!"
As we say in Masonry - "So mote be." This is an extremely interesting and poignant article for the current times. Some random thoughts:
My placed-base friends came not only from the neighborhood but also from my college fraternity and after 50 years, our friendship and love between us still remains strong.
Interestingly, as life went on, I used these college friendships as my yardstick when encountering potential new placed-base friendships. It sounds crazy but true, and my yardstick never failed me.
With all my "true" friendships even if we have not seen one another for years, after ten minutes or so, it is like no time has passed because the bond is so strong.
Thank you for writing this. I will forward
You are on to something big, Lance. I just read two more articles where people in their 50's are lining up to take courses on how to form friendships. Something happened to that group that put them in some kind of wasteland without the skills you and I had for connecting and learning rapidly who could be loyal and loving vs who had some kind of abusive streak that would make them never trust and not "give back."
Thank you for telling your story. That's what this community wants--real stories about the tremendous variations and intensities we see in gifted professionals and communicators. We are striving to cover the stories of the adults and the childhood backgrounds seem to be as fascinating as the adults.