Diversifying Investments

I know nothing about investing.  I am poor as the proverbial church mouse, and a humanities scholar, so this should not come as a surprise.

However, I do know that diversification is a basic principle of investing.  One invests widely, which reduces the risk of loss.  It's the "don't put all your eggs in one basket" principle, and while I can't give investment advice, I can say that it's a sound principle for friendships too.

One of the marvelous things about being single is the opportunity to diversify one's friendships.  This can still be done if one is married, I suppose, but I do think that I have time for friendships I might not otherwise have.  And the diversification is key.  A good friend turned 84 yesterday; my life has been enriched so much by my friendship with him and his wife.  In a culture where we tend -- particularly in the church -- to separate ourselves out by age, it's refreshing to talk to people who are at a different stage of life.  I was thinking about this yesterday as I left work and ran into one of my favorite small children.  A brief conversation with her brightened my day considerably.  And now, as I write this early in the morning, The Archbishop is curled up beside the laptop, purring.  That's friendship too.

Being single is a hard and lonely business, but diversify those friendship investments!  It helps, truly.