New Friends

My mother used to call everyone her friend. If she spoke on the phone to a solicitor or a person from an insurance company or credit card company, they became her friend. She used to tell me, "My new friend Debbie said...". No one ever annoyed her. She never answered a solicitor call and spoke nasty or condescending. She never fought with a representative if they did not give her what she was asking for. She was always kind and even tempered. I never realized what a wonderful quality that was. To her, every human being deserved respect. We used to joke about it with her. We would say that those people were not her friends, that they were just doing their job. Looking back, I wish that I did not say that. I guess for a few minutes in time, they were her friends, because friends treat each other kindly.