tea and strumpets

It's funny how some people in your life can cause you so much pain and sleepless nights, while others can completely make your day with the simplest of things, like a ridiculous joke quoted from a movie (see title). I feel like, the more time that goes by, the more aware I become of the effects people in my life have on me. I am slowly becoming better equipped to recognize people who are negative influences, and more importantly, people who I should be sure to keep around.

I love my friends. And chances are, if you're reading this, I count you among them. Unless of course, you just stumbled in here by accident, in which case I say "Welcome! Have a look around. Would you like some lemonade?" The thing about my friends is that they are all very different. I consider myself lucky that I never belonged to any sort of "clique," which has enabled me to make friends with (and stay friends with) all different sorts of people. And those friends who I've held onto are still in my life because they have made a difference in it. A positive difference.

However, in the course of my dealings with friends, I've occasionally come across ... well ... a rotten banana (I don't know why I chose that description - I just felt like calling someone a rotten banana.). I would consider a rotten banana to be someone who I thought was a friend, but turned out to be otherwise. Rotten bananas can come in many varieties, but I think that the worst kind is the one who seems to be, or pretends to be your friend, but in actuality has no respect for you or your feelings. I've written about these kinds of people before (see this post), and my feelings about them have not changed. There is really nothing you can do about these people other than to do what you can to remove them from your sphere of influence. Even if you try to make them aware of how they've hurt you, you're never going to be able to change how they feel about you. And if you want my opinion, you shouldn't even try. In order to maintain your sanity, just let them go. Let them be who they are, and don't let them influence who you are. But what am I preaching for? That wasn't the intent of this post.

What I was meaning to write about was how in the past few days, I have had conversations and meetings with friends that have ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other. I had a perfectly lovely afternoon with a very good friend, wherein my suspicions were confirmed that another person did not consider me a friend at all. (This did not ruin the lovely afternoon - how could it have, when the afternoon included a girl I've known forever, adorable children, gelato, and a butterfly that landed on my knee - but it did, unfortunately, keep me up that night.) I was kept awake that night thinking about someone who I later decided did not deserve any more consideration from me. She wasn't worth it. And then the next day, my worries evaporated during lunch with another good friend, who effortlessly cheered me up with the aforementioned strumpets. It's funny how you can suddenly be crystal clear about who your real friends are.

p.s. I promise the next post from me won't be nearly as serious. I guess I've just been thinking a lot about "stuff" lately, which tends to get me in trouble. :)

p.p.s. Anybody have any good banana bread recipes??