'Despite a 30-year age gap, we're the best of friends': Why I love cross-generational friendships

When I put down the phone, I felt lighter. As sappy as it might sound, I always feel like a better version of myself when I speak to her.

Sinead Kehoe at the Hilton Hotel in Clare Hall, Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney

Stuck in traffic on the motorway last week, I picked up the phone and gave my friend Patsy a call. It had been a few months since we last spoke, and as the phone rang a few times, I started to worry that she’d be annoyed at me that I’d left it so long to call.

I needn’t have fretted. She answered like we’d spoken just yesterday. I told her about work, holiday plans, and my new niece; she told me about her recent volunteering trip to Africa and how her grandchildren were getting on.