Doing It Alone Is Quite Yummy, But… (week 3) Magaly Guerrero’s weekly play along challenge
“Write a post about something that matters to you in a good way (arting, living, tightrope walking). Or, taking a recent not-so-wonderful situation and twisting it around until it gave you something good.”
Here’s Mine
So I’m late in writing my blog today. But that’s ok, because I’ve pretty much been focusing on my craft room, cleaning, organizing, and making a couple of simple pieces to share with a friend.
I could talk all day about my attempts at being artful with handmade recycled jewelry, but I wanted to focus on the word friend.
Friendship, true friendship, not fair weather friendship, is a connection I believe only occurs with a few people in our lives.
For me, I never developed that friendship until my late 40s. I’ve always been peoples’ fair weather friend as long as I was available to help them with their projects and needs. I had trouble in my youth saying no to helping people, but as I wisened up and started saying no, my friends would disappear. Amazing, huh?
I have both male and female friends. All my friends (my siblings and in-laws don’t count in this) live at a distance, so we don’t physically get to hang out very often. However, being able to reach out and just say hi or ask how things are is nice.
Receiving a simple “thinking ‘bout you” text from your friend can lift your spirits without any other conversation, simply because at least one person is thinking about you. About ME!
With my job, I’ve had the privilege to meet many people. That is where my friends developed; from those acquaintances. I’ve also began to develop a few online friends that humor me in conversation as well.
Finding friends, whether in person or online can be tricky. In the world we live in, there are many people that will take advantage of you. This can lead to an initial cautionary approach from all involved. I could probably list a dozen ways we get taken advantage of, but that’s not important for this idea I’m trying to convey.
How many friends does one need? To me, as a person who never truly developed lifelong friends, one friend is a gold mine. Two is a dream and any more than that and I might not know what to do with myself.
When we (I) think about our (my) friends, I believe we have several levels of friendship.
The best of course is the “I would die for you” friend. This person is probably closer to us than most of our blood relatives. These are the people who know our deepest, darkest secrets. These are the people that accept us in spite of those secrets. These are the people that forget our secrets and love us for who we are right now. I am happy to say that I actually have one of these.
Then I think we would have those friends who know us well enough to order food for us, but don’t quite know the fantasies or demons in our minds. These are great to have because we can be who we are with these people and even though we might piss them off at times, they forgive and forget. They are great helping and partying friends.
From here, things deteriorate. Most people fall into the friendly acquaintances category. Say hi in passing. Will eat together if we happen to be there at the same time; occasionally grab coffee and talk shop, etc.
Then acquaintances show up in the list. I think we all know where they stand. Lol
Friends Matter
Friends are there to laugh with, cry with, groan with, support and sometimes just be quiet with.
I hope you have that friend in your life. They are not always easy find. And sometimes this idiotic thing called life can take that friend from us in many different circumstances, but just remember, Friends Matter.
Maybe one day we will cross paths and figure out we can develop a friendship. Or at least a friendly acquaintance. Lol
Thank you for reading. I’d like to hear your take on friends.
The Every Man 
My husband is lucky in that he has a tight group of friends that has been part of his life since he was quite young. It’s like as if the kids in Stranger Things all grew up and were friends in their late 40’s. It took a lot longer for me to find friendships like the ones you described. but they were worth the wait.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s always great to see those kinds of relationships like your husband has. I think some of our later friends can be even stronger without the misdirection of youth. Lol
LikeLike
I’m right with Rommy… my Piano Man, too, has a handful of friends he has known since forever. I have a lot of people I like, but friends I would eye-gouge people for are few… And, yes, like both of you I met them either in the military (a totally different kind of friendship) or in my late 30s. But I think that’s a good thing, that we took our time–we just knew what we wanted, didn’t we? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree. Knowing what you want makes a difference in finding it.
LikeLiked by 1 person