Friends of Different Stages

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Looking at the bigger picture, i'd have to say I have three main sets of friends.  The friends I grew up with, the friends I went to nursing school with, and the friends I have at work that definitely make your work life easier.  I love the fact that each group is in a different stage of their lives and I can either be the resource seeker, the resource, and the stage companion.

With the friends I have at work, we all vary in age.  I love knowing about their experiences with children, watching them evolve from a regular nurse to a pregnant nurse setting aside all discomforts to treat other people.  I also enjoy the openess they have with their bodies as we're all professional, quite good with our pathophysiology, and that fact that we're nurses, we have so many TMI (too much information) questions but no one is really embarassed by them!

With my friends I grew up with, the longest i've known since we were 8 years old, these group of 4 girls are in a totally different stage of their lives.  I'm the only one married, 1 has a steady boyfriend, 1 is in the dating world and working, and the other is kind of in the dating world but also getting her MBA and really will be busy for the next 3 years of her life.  These guys I talk to almost on a regular basis, and though we aren't in the same stages, that fact that we grew up knowing each other from teen to queen's (we're all the same age), there is an unstated sense of intimacy.  We use each other as resources and confidants, and it's such an adventure when one accomplishes a feat after all the hardwork!

With my nursing friends, this is yet another different set of girls.  On top of us all being of the same age, we all are married, we all have established careers, and we meet about once a month and discuss the updates in our life.  One of us already has a kid too! Crazy!  Here, we talk about things we do like new renovations, house hunting and or planning, vacations we've been on, and most recently, everyone has been off the pill and dwelling in the same realm as I have.  The subjects we talk about, I don't want to say are more "mature" but it definitely defines a maturer stage of my life (I am turning 29 this year)!  As an added bonus, we're all nurses, so we're really not embarassed by anything either even while eating! 

"No man is an island" - John Donne