bonds strong than steel

Okay this one may seem a little off my usual rant and maybe it is, but hey it is my blog so I can do what I want to. Nah!
How many friends do you have? Most people would probably list a dozen or so people they consider friends when you first ask that question. Now, let us refine that question a bit. How many friends do you have that you can depend on no matte what? How many friends do you have that you would kill for? How many friends do you have that if you called them in the middle of the night and said you just shot someone breaking into your house would simply drive up and help you hide the body? In short (too late) how many friends do you really have?
When I was growing up, I was the odd one in a family of "normal" people. I loved to read, write and be creative. I didn't dream of growing up to hold down a "good steady" job and raise a dozen kids. (Well maybe the kids part) I dreamed of being an author. I dreamed of crafting worlds where people could lose themselves in adventures. Needless to say this kind of put me apart from my blue collar family members and kept me from having a lot of childhood friends. Had a few and they were awesome, but not a lot of them.
When I hit High School, I had lots of "friends." Hells, I played Football and was in the Marching Band so I had lots of them. (And if you don't think half time shows were a pain, you aren't very imaginative.) Still, most of these "friends" were not what I described in the first paragraph. Sure we had good times, but only one or two would have been there in a pinch. (Mark, Brian, Tony and Jeff God Bless you)
College was a major event for me. I would go on to become the first member of my immediate family to ever graduate from College. (My Brother and Sister tried and didn't make it because of monetary reasons not because of lack of dedication and intelligence.) I made tons of buddies and discovered the world outside of my tiny hometown of Goshen. (Pop. 545 at the time I left, now even smaller) College was an amazing time.
Decades later, I can still remember most of the buddies I hung out with and I have come to realize that we were just that, buddies. I really don't miss most of them and prolly wouldn't connect with them very well if we did somehow meet again. They were a wonderful part of my college years but have since faded. This is not a bad thing, it is actually kind of normal.
But thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with three people that truly fit the category of Friends! It has been at least 20+ years since we have had any sort of conversation, but we have picked up right where we left off. We still think alike, still believe in the same things and still understand each other. It is like the decades of seperation never existed.
One of these friends lives all the way across the country and two live right next door (Statewise), but I know to the core of my being that if I called one of them up and said, "I am in trouble!" they would drop what they are doing and find some way to help me. Hells one of them even offered to loan me a gun till I can afford to buy one. Now that is friendship.
I guess how this all ties into the general gist of this blog is that these three friends (And if God is willing) a couple of more if I can find them are like me. They are outspoken and unafraid to tell people exactly what they think. Hells, one of them has spent his entire life writing pieces exactly about that. (GO BENJY!) My attitude about always saying how you feel and trying to make things better has alienated a lot of people. It has chased off a bunch of people who might have been my "friends." But it has also forged friendships that are stronger than steel and tighter than blood. Because of this, I think I have come out ahead.
So in closing, let me ask you again. How many Friends do you have?