Friendship in the Later Chapters of Life.

As we grow older, friendship can take on renewed importance. Roles that once consumed enormous amounts of our time and energy begin to change. Children establish independent lives. Careers end or take different forms. Parents die. Marriages and partnerships change. Our bodies ask for different kinds of attention. We may find ourselves with more time, but also with fewer of the structures that once brought us naturally into contact with other people.

At this stage of life, friendship can become an important place of continuity—and an important place of becoming.