Same with a specialist doctor I see. When I met him, I was 17 and he was a fresh grad on his first week on the job. Now we have a 6 year relationship and we're kind of on equal terms.
I'm trying to think of more people in my life this way - people I previously thought of as unapproachable elders are becoming friends. Hope I'm on the right track.
And I agree with that. Your friends, much more than your network, define your outlook on life, your general attitude towards various successes and failures, the things you place the most importance in. If all of your friends are get-out-there-and-do-something people, it will rub off on you, even if not to the same extreme.
Furthermore, it's much easier to do something extreme or different if you have a friend group that wants to do it with you. Starting a business on your own is nearly impossible. Starting a business with a close friend is no cake walk, but now there is motivation. And regardless of what sort of way you try to be successful, friends can pool their networking resources.
Combine skills, networking and the leverage of reach (through the internet) and you might find yourself in a position where you are wondering what all the fuss is about. There is a ton of work which needs to be done out there, but too few people who have figured out how to change with the times.
Edit: In other words, things may change so much to be unrecognizable in ten years. So, networking is the only thing that you can really count on to always be important.