The ven diagrams of friendship

After spending several lovely days with different friends this spring a picture came to my mind.  Oddly enough it was the image of a math concept called a ven diagram.  Ven diagrams describe the relationship between two or more things, showing the ways in which they are different and the ways in which they are the same.

As this image came to my mind the thoughts came with it that friendships are a lot like ven diagrams.  With one friend we have an overlap in this area, with another friend we overlap that area and another as well.  With some friends there is a big overlap,

and with some friends there is a smaller overlap.

It was interesting to examine friendships in this light, and see how increased areas of overlap bring so much satisfaction in a friendship.