I love spending time with friends who don't have kids. It makes me feel outrageously happy and ridiculously special. We made our schedules work! We are guaranteed to talk about Interesting Non-Kid Things for the majority of our time together! I revel in the joy of a friendship we chose, as opposed to one that's simply convenient.

And let's be honest--thank goodness for friendships of convenience! Friends at work, neighbor friends, and school friends are how we get through the day. Family friends with kids around the same age as your own? Pure magic.

But here's the thing. Those of us with a child (or more) can get lured into thinking that we should only be friends with other people with children. We can even get lulled into the idea we should find families like our own, with children of similar ages and abilities, and just hang around with them. Don't be fooled! A strong sense of humor, kindness, and an adventurous spirit matter way more than age, ability, or whether someone has a child. Everyone was a kid once, and the fact that someone doesn't have kids does not mean they dislike them, or that they even vaguely dislike you for having one (or more). Your friends without kids might even welcome the chance to revisit some of the fun parts of childhood.

The "fun parts of childhood" vary from person to person. What you did as a kid may be different from what your friends did. And these differences are so good. They mean that you don't have to know or learn everything as a parent! You just need friends.

If you're lucky, you've got friends like Susan and Wayne. They don't have kids, and they are so funny, incredibly kind and up for just about anything at least once. Even better? They know so many things we don't, including everything important about skateboarding (they'd downplay their expertise, but that's another reason we like them). Marc and I just had to mention to them that Wyatt was interested in taking up skateboarding. Suddenly, it didn't matter that we knew nothing about it. They introduced us to their friend and his skate shop, and they took Wyatt shopping for his first board. They even bought it for him. And then? Wayne got him started with the basics in the skate park.

More skate meet-ups have followed. One of those days also involved a post-skate LEGO building session.

There's every reason to share this kind of fun with friends, regardless of whether those friends have kids. Or maybe even especially if those friends don't have kids.