5 Friends All Kids Need...

So, I was on the can letting go of some stress and losing weight about 20 minutes ago, and I ended up reading this magazine called Parenting. There was an article that talked about the types of friends that kids need. The article was titled "5 friends all kids need." It was pretty interesting and accurate.

These are the 5 friends:
1. the convenient friend
This friend is one of the neighbor's kids. It's useful for ages 2-5. This friend is the one who teaches the kid that friends are fun.

2. the opposite-sex friend
This friend can be found at any place where boys and girls mingle such as the library or music class. The writer says that you don't want your kids growing up thinking that girls are aliens. Also, it allows kids to develop more respect and empathy for the opposite gender. The same age applies as friend 1.

3. the athletic friend
This friend can be found at the playground, swim class, or running on the sidewalk in front of your house. This friend is golden from age 3 to school age. They're beneficial because kids need friends who can teach them that playing outside is fun and won't end up inside their house all day playing video games and getting fat haha. Make sure to regulate sometimes if they get too competitive and mean.

4. the slightly older friend
This friend could be one of your kid's cousins or your babysitter's kids. They're good for toddlerhood through the preschool years. This friend is bound to be a great role model and a peek into what is in store for your own kid. You gotta make sure that she's a good influence though, or else it would basically be useless.

5. the friend he chooses
This friend is good from age 4-100+ haha. This one is solely on who the kid is naturally attracted to as a friend. They'll probably live close by and have the same interests.

Anyway, I chose to write about this because I thought about how these friends still applied to me now even though I'm 21 years old already. I'll go ahead and show some love to 5 people that fall under this category.

1. The Convenient Friend
My convenient friend would be Samer. We've been friends since about our junior year in high school when we met in advanced PE. Yes, advanced PE haha. We'd just stand there and joke about everybody. I used to hate him because he was so damn obnoxious and seemed to pick fights with everyone. But, once we found we had the same broad taste in music (Jack Johnson FTW!) and were both New York heads, we became homies. We still kick it a few times a month. Lately, it's been once a week. It's mostly at his house though because his basement is made for kickin' it. He lives about 12 minutes away when I get lucky and get all the green lights haha. Aside from my brothers, Samer would be my best man at my wedding. He's one of the few people that I could actually hold an intellectual conversation with, which is a great break from the friends that I have where all we can talk about is shoes or sports. Anyway, I hope you don't read this and become gay haha. What would your dad say? Oh, I know: "ARE YOU F'ING GAY?!?!"

2. The Opposite-Sex Friend
The first two that I thought of were Krista and Adrianne, but they're busy at school with their boyfriends nowadays. We don't even talk no more! Who the hell else am I supposed to give advice to? Haha. So, Timi, this section is for you. We can pretty much talk about boy stuff, which is great. It's good because I can trust you with my secrets and I know that you won't judge me. That's alway s a plus. Whenever we don't talk for a prolonged period of time, it's all gravy because we pick up right where we left off. My best memory with you was when you lost your damn keys in D.C. after Adrianne and Myra's poop/vegetable dinner and then I drove you back home to get your spare and then went back to D.C. What a horrible drive. That was the only time I ever called you pretty because you were crying haha. I had to find a way to try and stop it. So gay! Oh yeah, Chris Paul... DBSK... The Office... Giants... It was all a dream... I used to read Word Up magazine. Okay, that's all.

3. The Athletic Friend
Spot open. I really don't know if I have an athletic friend. If I had to name a few, they would have to be Ivan, Fune, or James. I don't know if they would consider themselves athletic though haha.

4. The Slightly Older Friend
I would have to say Alan or Joe. There's never a dull moment with you guys and even if we've got the crummiest crap planned, they always turn out fun because ya'll find a way to make it fun. Both of ya'll have given me your fair share of great advice when it comes to love, the ministry, and pedophiles haha. Alan, you know what's good with that last one. Anyway, thanks for letting me be me and not giving a damn. I look up to ya'll bammas for different reasons even though I never say it. Gay gay gay galore.

5. The Friend He Chooses
I didn't choose you. God chose you for me. You've been my one and only true best friend my entire life. I never really had a best friend before, not even in elementary school or high school, mostly because my supposed best friend had a different best friend haha. It was never mutual. Anyway, we've grown together. We've had our ups and downs, our arguments, our agreements, our conflicts, our triumphs, our time away, our time together, our prayer overs, our birthdays, our Christmases, our Thanksgivings, our phone calls, our car rides, our camps, our Scrabble games, our Clue games, our Monopoly games, our jokes, our road trips, our dinners, our movies, our first date, our Ten Ren, our Osaka, our Willard Room, our J. Gilbert's, our Yammi Yammi, our Hong Kong, our Bangkok Golden, our Honda Accord, our Toyota Corolla, our Toyota Yaris, our Better Together, our So Close, our I'm Yours, our Reunited, our our our..... We've had all these things... together. And it's been a splendid ride that's just started. At the end of it all, it was you. At the end of it all, it was you. Thank you for that line, Q-Tip. Love you, Nik!

Thank you for reading, all.