I have heard that tigers do not change their stripes in relation to people. Usually it is in the negative. When a person has cheated or deceived one person the thought is that they will cheat and deceive others.

I have wondered if this statement could be viewed in a positive manner also. I think it can.

When I first moved into my new house I became a constant at the swimming pool in summertime. I made it a habit to swim a mile every night in the Olympic size pool and I enjoyed it. Pretty soon I made a new friend. She lived in another neighborhood but enjoyed going to the pool every evening also. Pretty soon we did a mile together almost every single evening. I would swim and she would walk it in the pool. We also biked and went for long walks together.

Over exercise we became the best of friends. We shared our joys and our sorrows as well as our frustrations. She was married and I was single but we both loved our families deeply.

I had taken a break from working at that time in my life and I enjoyed my time with her. After taking a 6 month hiatus from work I had to go back and somehow our friendship faded.

I missed her terribly but I knew she would be okay because she always had a lot of friends. She was very outgoing.

I tried calling her several times but finally gave up. One night I called and her daughter answered. Her daughter said she had just had another baby. I was excited for her and tried to call her several times after that but I just couldn’t connect.

I talked with her or ran across her in the neighborhood on occasion and it seemed as if she had lost a bit of her outgoing personality. She had stopped talking to her next door neighbor and another friend that she had had. I started to worry that she may be going through a depression.

This afternoon I got a phone call from her. She was having some friends over from a Mom’s club and she invited me to the get together. I went and although none of her old friends were there (me being the exception) she had a house full of new ones. I was so glad to see that she had friends and the girls joked about her always talking about me but they had never seen me so they chided her and told her that they thought I was just an “Imaginary” friend. I was surprised that she still talked about me but also flattered.

She was just as fun as she had always been and just as popular. I hope to see her more often because I hope she is a tiger who didn’t change her stripes of friendship.