Day Six: Friends
[ Posted by Rebecca Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:33:04 GMT ]
I was thinking last night about how I am reluctant to befriend women. I almost always keep them at arm’s length because, well, let’s face it, women are some of the meanest people on the planet. Cold and heartless too. Yes, I said it. No snide remarks from men on this one. We women may have the crazy gene, but you men got the dumb gene. So just keep that in mind before you go off saying how you knew it all along and you were just waiting for one of us to admit it. Remember, this blog is about me, not you.
So shush.
Anyway, I remember elementary school whenever I think about how I am typically repulsed by women. I was always The Girl Nobody Liked in elementary school. I was the butt of jokes and pranks, I was always picked last for team games, and was either left out of invitations to birthday parties, or was treated poorly when I attended them.
It’s no surprise to me, now that I know who I am, that I was treated this way. I see a lot of things differently than most people I know, and could be labeled eccentric. I’m quirky, creative and weird, and have a very strange sense of humor a lot of the times. Of course I didn’t fit in with all the girls who wanted nothing other than to throw themselves at the feet of such heart throbs as Jonathan Brandis and Jordan Knight.
Nevertheless, not fitting in left a bad taste in my mouth.
I got to thinking about all this on my drive home from Marci’s last night (Marci and Caroline and I met up to go for a walk and spend some time hanging out). I remembered what it was like to not have women in my life who I could trust. I remembered what it was like to have only superficial girlfriends who wanted to know nothing of my life, but wanted to sit around for hours, pouring their pain and sorrow into my ears, who wanted everything to be about them. Who never wanted to give, and only wanted to take.
I don’t have to worry about any of these things with Marci and Caroline. I can be 100% myself and I don’t have to worry about them thinking I’m crazy. They know I’m crazy, and it is evident that they love me for it. They know that I can space out at times and not have a clue what happened in the last five minutes. They know that I make lame jokes, and they know what I look like when I cry. They aren’t in my life to get what they can out of me and then move on. They haven’t put me on a pedestal to the point that they claim my ideas and opinions as their own. They don’t call me incessantly and get jealous when I’m busy with school or other things. They don’t get upset when I flake on them due to cramps or exhaustion or just plain ickiness.
I guess in short, they don’t have ridiculous expectations of me. They have the kind of expectations that genuine friends have of others - honesty of personality, honesty of character, and absence of judgment. They only expect to be given what they are willing to give out.
Never in a million years would I have expected to have such friends. I never got to have friends like that before. I’m so glad I have them now.
Caroline and Marci - this blog post? It’s one giant Zing! for you both.
