Nov 13 2002

Boy Friends

Published by at 6:00 am under City Life,Friends,Random Thoughts

Still have the headache. I’m going to have to try some of your very helpful suggestions (hee!) and/or stop by one of those scary herb stores in Chinatown for wing of bat or eye of newt. Maybe Shakespeare was onto something.

I had a call yesterday from my friend Paul. I haven’t seen him since we had dinner back in May. His life has been the usual: full of adventure, mostly good (including a new grandchild on the way), and it was great to catch up. He’s wintering in Florida this year, she said grandly, and invited us to come and stay with him. I just might take him up on it, ending my lifetime streak of never going to Florida. But I’m not going to Disney World, or Disney Land, or any other Disney-related place, whether I go to Florida or not.

So, as usual, it was great to catch up with him. And it got me thinking (so look out). I seem to have quite a lot of male friends. Only one is an ex-boyfriend*, and all the others have absolutely no taint of sex at all. There’s Paul. There’s Richard, who has been my friend since high school. There’s Adrian, an all-around great guy. There’s Randy, who used to be my boss (!), and who now lives near Chicago. He will be the first call I make after room service when I go to our conference in Chicago in mid-January (brrr). There’s Gary, who used to be a client, which makes it possibly even weirder that we remained friends after our professional relationship ended than staying friends with your former boss. There’s Raven, who used to be my sister’s boyfriend long ago. There’s Charles, who is also my jeweler. There’s Lance and Sal and Wade, who are admittedly gay, but boys and friends, nonetheless. And that doesn’t include miscellaneous friends of Dad’s, who have become my friends, too, over the years; or the friends I have through John and my brother, but who are also mine; or the husbands/boyfriends of girlfriends who have won me over in their own right (like Candi’s Brian); or the guys whose blogs I love to read and whose minds and wit I admire.

I wonder why I seem to have so many more male friends than female ones. I generally have a higher opinion of women than men, right or wrong, and feel there is a real strength in the bond between women. But if you look at the facts, I have more male friends, though I wouldn’t confide in the male friends in the same way I would the female ones. Maybe a girl just needs both. After all, when I can’t decide between two things, I just take them both. The “all of the above” category on tests was invented just for me, you know.

*Other than him, I wish there was some planet they could be sent to, so you never have to run into them or hear about them ever again. Especially if they’re hugely successful and much happier without you, when they should be in a hell of terrible, searing regret from losing you, even if you are no longer the slightest bit interested in them.

2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Boy Friends”

  1. Amberon 13 Nov 2002 at 9:08 am

    I probably have equal male and female friends I think. You DO need both. For balance and well-roundedness. Or something like that I’m sure :).

    I’m friends with all my ex-boyfriends but one. But I still check in with him about twice a year anyway and it’s friendly enough. I’ve always had the idea that it’s better this way because any illusion of ‘what if’ disappears when you’re friends. For me, anyway.

  2. Colinon 13 Nov 2002 at 5:59 pm

    Have fun in Florida 🙂 For the most part, it is a nice state, and you’re definitely right about Disney. I’ve lived 90 minutes from Orlando most of my life, yet I’ve only been to Disney once, and Universal/Islands of Adventure once. The only way those are fun is if you can afford to spend $400 a night in a hotel that gives you passes to cut ahead of everyone in lines…

    Even better than Florida, have fun in Chicago! Chicago is AWESOME, and there’s more to do in that city than in the whole state of Florida… Get Oprah’s autograph for me, okay?