Maybe (i.e. no)

I had an epiphany last night. Standing around in the club with just four friends, one of whom I suspect had ulterior motives for coming out, I realized that one of two things must be true: either the average person sees friendship much differently than I do, or I don't have nearly as many friends as I thought I had.

Wait, don't throw your computers away yet, I promise this isn't going to be one of those blogs.

For some reason, I'm less sure of this epiphany than I was last night, but, at the time, I got a pretty good chuckle at the idea that "I'm living on a different planet than everyone else" (which, i suppose, would quite sufficiently explain why no one came to my birthday party).

In all seriousness though, having only 4 people (that's the last one, I promise) come to my birthday party put a big exclamation point at the end of an internal dialogue I've been having for a while now. It's come to my attention that I value friendships... let's just say differently... than a lot of people I know.

I don't want to give you the wrong impression, I didn't expect to take over the club on a Wednesday night, and I can't really blame any nine-to-fivers who decided that ten was too late, but if it were me and all you wanted for your birthday was for me to come by a bar and say hey, I'd at least show my face long enough to buy you a drink. I mean, depending, of course, on how much I like you.

I know I'm getting older, and I know people's priorities change with time, but I sure do miss my great friendships. I miss my Friday lunches and my quality time. I miss my Get You Out Of A Jam sessions. I miss having friends who'll be there for you, even if it's inconvenient, just because they know it'll put a smile on your face.

But enough of that, I already promised that this wasn't going to be one of those blogs.

Over the last few years I've done more than my fair share to alienate a lot of people, but this year's going to be different. My friendships have always been very important to me and this year I'm going to stop neglecting them. One of my goals for this year is create, find, or rebuild the great friendships that I've been missing. It's going to take a reinvestment of my time and energy, and a conscious effort to meet new people (which I've never given before), but I'm going to find my quality time, and quality friends to spend it with. My twenty-eighth birthday outing is going to be a happy one, even if it is on a Thursday night.

I noticed a few other things about myself while on that dance floor last night, but those are different stories for different days. Today is day 9,863. I still have 364 days to go.