Why do we have a variety of friends who are all so different in character? Each one helps to bring out a “different” part of us. With one we are polite. With another one we joke. We can sit down and talk about serious matters with one. With another one we laugh a lot. We listen to one friend’s problems. Then we listen to another one’s advice.

Friends are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When completed, they form a treasure box of friends! Friends often understand us better than we understand ourselves. Friends support us through good and bad days.

Doctors tell us that friends are good for our health. Dr. Oz calls them Vitamin F (for Friends) and says friends are essential to our wellbeing. Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes.  The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your most intense moments, it decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%. It is even said that if you enjoy Vitamin F frequently, you can look and feel up to 20 years younger than your real age.

Value your friends and stay in touch. The most gratifying thing about friendship is that we can grow separately without growing apart.

— Anonymous

Friends – Growing separately without growing apart. www.walled-in-berlin.com

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.