Friends

Friends.  I used to consider myself both lucky and not when it came to friends.  Lucky in that the few that I had were of the highest quality; unlucky in that I didn't have a real wide circle of friends.  I have a storied history with friendship.

When I was little, my very first best friend's name was Amber.   I, however, insisted on calling her "Hamber".  That's all I really recall about that friendship.  Well that I do believe 'Hamber' had some cooler toys than I and I think I was quite bossy.  Sorry.

Next was my friend, Jaycee.  This is where my lifelong issue with comparing myself to others began.  Jaycee had a Cabbage Patch Kid before me.  Jaycee and I both got 'Preemie' CBP's the same Christmas. Then she got twins. She had like eight of those fucking things! I had two.  Meredith Flora was the preemie and Mindy Theresa was my 'Cornsilk' hair Cabbage Patch Kid.  She would've been fantastic had 'Santa' not thought it too cute to get me a CPK with glasses because I had glasses. Fuck. You.  I hated my glasses.  The last thing I needed was a reminder of the bane of my existence.  So Mindy 'lost' her glasses pretty early on into Christmas morning.  Anyway, Jaycee also had a kick ass collection of Barbies and cool Barbie stuff but still had the audacity to steal the skates from my 1988 Olympic Barbie.  Anyway, I could never wrap my head around why she had so much more than I did.  Then, in Grade 4, her Dad went to jail for "selling beer" and let's just leave it at that.

Next would probably be my friend Brigette.  A friend who wholeheartedly embraced hair metal with me.  A friend who let me bully her into playing dolls long past anyone else our age wanted to play dolls.  In my defense, she was the youngest of five kids and she had some really cool dolls of her older sister's.  Yeah, I know, still mean and still lame.  I was mean to Brigette more times than I care to remember or share.  She did not deserve it and I am lucky she never kicked my ass.

My point is, and I do have one, aside from those early friendships and two or three adult friendships, I have been known to say, on more than one occasion, that I prefer male friends to female. 

I love men.  In all regards.  It always seemed to me they were more fun, less offended by my foul language, listened to better music and did not want to discuss, ad nauseum, "girly things". 

Well now I'm 33.  I still have my fair share of male friends, some of whom I'd consider best friends.  Now though, I have a strong contingent of wonderful women whom I'm proud to call my friends and even prouder that they consider me the same. 

Today, for example, I needed to get Justin Bieber tickets for my daughter but had a hair appointment booked for the same time the tickets went on sale. With that, I left my Visa with the girls and asked them to get the tickets for me. They did and got kick ass seats at that!!  There was much drama and a little perspiration involved but they rock!  These girls are not only great ticket-getters but these women I've come to know in the last four years, have taught me to really appreciate the privilege it is to belong to a female circle of friends.

At this point though, I think it's beyond boy vs. girl.  All in all at this state I consider myself more than lucky when it comes to friends.  Today, in particular, one friend who is the very antithesis of what I am, in that he is always positive, laid back and generally just makes people feel good about themselves; well, let's just say I'm glad he's my friend and glad he'll continue to be so for many years to come.

And finally, I can't blog about my friends without giving Vodka an honourable mention.  Tonight she has upped the ante with a delightful grape flavouring.  I really like her a lot.

Thanks a million times over to Trisha and Nadia.   Get well soon to Ron.  To everyone else, to quote the infamous and now sadly, nearly all extinct 'Golden Girls': Thank You for Being a Friend.