A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half-cracked ...unknown

Greetings from a half-cracked egg...

Most people would say I am a gregarious and friendly woman. More likely to be smiling than frowning, usually good at remembering small important details, more than comfortable chatting about whatever. I usually get along well with people, can find some point of reference to be able to relate to them, and have had very few instances in my life where I've met people who I intensely disliked or intensely disliked me (well not that I'm aware of).

Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends. ~Virginia Woolf

My friends are important to me... in lots of ways, my friends are my family.

I can be painfully shy, which a lot of people find hard to believe, because I'm so chatty a lot of the time. In situations where I have some control, at work, or out with friends, I'm fine. But put me on my own and I'll withdraw. I once went to an interstate conference and for 3 days did not speak to a single other participant.

I have a lot of friends, both male and female, that cover all aspects of my life, including friends that I've had for a long time. Am still close to a friend I met my first day of school, we've known each other 42 years... which her children find amazing. And others that I've known for decades or longer. At the same time, I have friends I've known for 6 months or less.

The relationships are different, there's a level of comfort with older friends, that you have from shared experiences that I've yet to have with newer friends. But the one thing they all have in common, is that I feel safe with them.

Friends can be said to "fall in like" with as profound a thud as romantic partners fall in love. ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

A former boss used to say to us, you are either on the team or you are off. And I have started to realise I take a similar approach to my friendships. You are either a friend, or you aren't... a card carrying member of Team FrouFrou or not...

If you're a friend of either sex, then I let you in... all the way in... without reservation. I give you permission to love me, to get mad at me, to laugh at and with me, to cry with me. And more importantly I give myself permission to love you... and if I love you, then it doesn't matter how often we see each other, or even how you behave, you belong... you become a part of my life, for the rest of my life, in almost all cases.

And if I can't do that, if I can't let you in, either because of your own discomfort or lack of interest, or my own, then we are never going to be true friends. You're either a friend or you're at best an acquaintance, at worst, a stranger.

Friends----you and me , You brought another friend and then there were 3.
We started our group, Our circle of friends and like that circle , There is no beginning or end... author unknown

I've struggled a lot in the last couple of years to understand who I am, and the things that I want, am still very much a work in progress. But I'm a lot more comfortable in my own skin these days, and therefore am a lot more likely to open up to people than I used to be.

As a result, I've found it easier to expand my circle, as I've got better at recognising like minded spirits that I connect with. And it's such a blessing to discover so many like minded spirits out there. The reasons why I have connected or how I have connected with my friends are as different as my friends themselves are.

But I love more than anything to link them all together, to truly create a circle of friends. People that have very little in common in some cases, except me.

On Tuesday next week, 11 of us are going to see The Sound of Music Drag Show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. 2 friends are married to each other, FBG and Fish-a-man, he'll be the lone boy of the group, and I was with FBG the weekend she met him, probably 12 years ago now. MLDD and Gigglegirl are sisters and my cousins.

L is a former work colleague, and FBG also worked with us. L is bringing along her uni pal S who is down from Queensland, the two of them have travelled overseas together every 12-15 months for close to 30 years. I've met S several times over the years on her trips down to Melbourne.

SuzyQ, is also a former work colleague, different workplace though, we've known each other for 20 years. SuzyQ, MLDD, FBG and I did the single girl thing in various computations over the years. And she recently met L for the first time when we went to see the Choir of Hard Knocks together, and the last time I saw them both, they were both singing at the top of their lungs as MLDD drove them home. She's bringing two friends, who I haven't met before, but I know if they are her friends then I will love them.

And flickchick, who again, is a former work colleague, but different workplace, hasn't met any of these people yet, but they all know about her, and she knows about them, cause I've talked about her a lot to them in the 6 years that I've known her. She'll love them, and they her.

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~Laurence J. Peter

I guess something NPNP said to me recently is a good way to finish this off. We all know you are a 'wack job' but so what, that's why we love you.

I am strange, contrary, argumentative, over-emotional, and more than slightly left of centre and will confess to being extremely high maintenance. And those that are my friends know that about me, and love me anyway, cause they know I am so worth it... as I know that they are...