Friendships

I've come to accept that in your lifetime you have friends and you will have FRIENDS. Some will be very close friends because you can easily live with their faults and some will be casual friends because their faults you not so easily can live with.

My sister-in-law, Faye, has been a friend for more years than I can count and we've never had an argument. That's not to say that we haven't at some time or other gotten on each other's nerves or shown aspects of our personality that is better left ignored. Our faults can be tolerated by each other.

I've been trying to pinpoint why I'm not so tolerant of the faults I find in some other people and have come to the conclusion that there's no answer.

It's like love. Many of us have been madly in love with someone whom we otherwise can't stand. No-one has been able to figure that one out since the beginning of time. The truth is that we become close to someone bit by bit, testing the waters to see if the next "fault" we encounter is a deal breaker. Being in love is like being insane so it takes us much longer to reach the dealbreaker part. Friendship comes from the sanest part of our mentality so dealbreakers are easier recognized.

I told Faye that she actually has never gotten on my nerves but I'm sure I've gotten on hers. She remained quiet...like a really good friend.