A “Friend” is someone who knows ALL about you, and still likes you ! (in spite of it !)
LUV 2 ALL
Wisdum

Friends are (IMHO) one of God’s most precious gifts. my incredibly difficult journey since my stroke in 2003 would have been eve MORE difficult if it hadn’t been for one or two key friends who have refused to allow me to give up of life! They’ve been there at ever bend in the road, ministering to both body and soul! One of them even was able to make me relax and ACCEPT their help (a struggle for someone who has spent her life being the giver) by accusing me of selfishness in my relyctance to accept help I can no longer reciprocate. He made me see that when I refuse to receive I am selfishlu denyong others that wonderful inner feeling which is only born of giving, which is indeed a truly selfish thing to do! And because i’ve always prided myself on my generosity of spirit, that was a bitter pill I was uneilling to swallow..ergo Margaret has learned to TAKE albeit not alwats graciously…it’s been both humbling and inspirational, and i owe that friend A LOT for not being afraid to call me on it! Talk about reaping what you’ve sown! It’s been amazing to discover how many people whom I never suspected had received from me have see themselves as “in my debt” (a concept i dislike because of the ‘leeping score’ implications. O know have a much deeper understanding of why”…it’s more blessed to give than to receive….” and finally “get that for every blessed giver there needs must be an equally blessed receiver to allow ot to work. I’ve found hat to be true here on B.B. as well when I have read responses to some of my postings. People are more than willing to reach out, correct misinterpretations, share their own experiences that I might grow necause of them, and offer words of encouragement. My SEF (FORMERLY KNOWN AS MY “WARM FUZZY FILE” has never been so thick!) and I don’t evenKNOW any of you in the concept of recognizing you on the street! I DO find it to be true that there are marked differences between my male and female friends, but I think–to a degree–that’s partly because of my own expectations! Things I automatically EXPECT AND WILINGLY ACCEPT from my girlfriends feel awkward when offered by a male friend…wonder why that is? It can’t be a sexual tension, because I’m talking here about FRIEMDSHIPS, not anything deeper!Interestingly enough, two of my male friends who happen to be homosexual partners DO tend to relate to me differently than my heterosexual male friends, or maybe it’s just that– for whatever reason– i’m more open to receiving that level of friendship from them.Weird, because that’s an area where I’ve had to overcome some deep personal pain since my college boyfriend decided to “come out” after months of discussing “taking our friendship to the next level” and seeing if we were perhaps suited to become more than friends. That was incredibly painful, as I had believed his desire to take it further and had “given” him my virtue. Consequently, I became almost homophobic for a period of time. Of course it didn’t help that shortly thereafter my roommate annunced that she was movong out of our apartment because she too was ‘coming out’ and had realized that her feelings for me went deeper than friendship! So there was a lot of loss attached to that paericular area. (My “botfriend and I had been best friends all through high school, and my roommate and I had been together since our second year of college. I ended up having to do a whole lot of sou-searching and trying to understand if there was something about ME that was drawing these people into my inner circle. (I’ve always been straight, myself)

Amen on quality over quantity.
PS to Margaret — several of my exes (including, yes, my ex-wife) have had high school/college boyfriends — or so they thought, like you — who came out of the closet to them. Which brings up two questions:
1. Is there something that unconsciously attracts heterosexual people to closeted gays?
2. Is there something that unconsciously attracts heterosexual people to those who were once attracted to closeted gays?

Re -Larry Parker | November 13, 2007 9:54 PM
It’s been my experience, that women have no problem with gay men (to them it’s just another woman with like interests and tastes)Men on the other hand have a problem with that, since they can not relate to the female psyche so intimately. Women definitely have a problem if their husband runs off with or has an affair with another man, worse than another woman, it completely destroys their self-esteem.
LUV 2 ALL
Wisdum