Friendship is a like a bucket two people work to fill with Good. The fuller it is, the more stable and long lasting a friendship, the emptier and the more precarious.  Good times, trust, presence, laughter, listening, giving, integrity, and love all fill the bucket. 

Investing in a loaded bucket creates a lasting friendship because sometimes we mess up. Dishonesty, disappearing, not showing up, silence, smothering, missing being there and other dissatisfying behaviors take from the bucket.  If the bucket is full enough, the friendship can last a transgression with tons leftover to cushion a mistake. A good friend will start to fill it up again. If the bucket isn’t nurtured, a transgression or two can grind down a fledgling friendship before it can bloom.

The bucket is sacred. A friend that doesn’t understand or abuses the bucket wears a friendship down. A friend that that respects the bucket will last forever.      

 

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C) Marika Reinke – Adventures in Art with Heart, Humor and Spirit.