Friendship Project Introduction
Everyday, commuters form community. Trains, planes and automobiles transform strangers into companions. Many spouses see other commuters more than their mates. Some schoolchildren are influenced more by bus drivers than their parents. Shared experience makes fast friends. Commuting is a shared experience but any situation will do. Watching the game, Starbuck's runs or dropping off kindergarteners can draw strangers closer. Parenting changed Cherith Fluker from a stranger to a friend. "We were seeing [people] two or three times a week because we were in the same place. We would see [other parents] all day on Saturday standing at tournaments." Cherith is the mother of two children and volleyball was the shared experience. When Cherith buried one parent within months of the other, she learned to lean on her companions. When the children went off to college and empty-nesting stirred questions, her friends su...