Can You Hear Me Know?

I'll Be There For You...'Cause You're There For Me Too
Have you seen the Verizon television commercial where the chick is leaving work and talking about how she's going to use her cell minutes to finally tell the world what she thinks. Do you ever want to do this?

I suppose this post requires more background. A hard lesson I had to learn in college and law school was that, in life, you have friends and you have acquaintances. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! Some people you will have in your life a short time and may be fun to hang out with occasionally and some people are geniune friends that you keep forever (or as long as you can!). This was a very difficult thing for me to learn. I've always tried hard on relationships and friendships (or at least I like to think so). When people don't like me, it really bothers me. But through the years, I really just got tired of working on "friendships" that were really just acquaintances. That probably comes off really badly, but I don't mean it to.

For instance, years ago I had a friend who I hung out with on a fairly regular basis. I finally realized, after months of drama and gossip, that she wasn't really a great friend, just someone I hung out with because of convenience. Again, not that it's a bad thing! I think we all have had friends of convenience before - especially in school. How can you not become friends with someone who you see for hours on end, every single day. And I think it's natural for those relationships to die off after the situation ends (ie. graduation).

Anyway, with this particular friend, I just decided one day that I wasn't going to placate anyone and I wasn't going to stifle my thoughts (or, as it happened to be, political opinions) to make things "easier." I was determined to just treat this person as I would a stranger. That is, be polite and friendly, but not go out of my way when it wouldn't be reciprocated. I simply came to terms with the difference between friends and acquaintances.

So, back to my original post. Sometimes I realize that I hold myself back from telling people how I really feel about them. Obviously, you don't want to hurt feelings and I'm a full supporter of the White Lie. But when does that become too much? When does your behavior transition to pretending? And does that benefit anyone? Would you prefer to know the truth? And what happens when you do transition from friend to acquaintance with the way you treat people? Would it simply creat more drama? Or like my past friendship, will it simply die off gracefully when the time comes?

It goes without saying that this does not apply to my friends (ie. if you are reading this, don't freak out! ha!). But do you ever wish you could "Rose Ceremony" your life? Maybe cut off the split ends?

And, a more important question, does this post make me a total b!tch?

(Post Script: I feel the need to mention that I feel sooooo lucky to have met the most incredible people/friends/women in the last few years. I finally feel so content knowing that I have friends who would be by my side during a crisis in a heartbeat. People that, I hope, cherish my friendship as much as I cherish them! I love you, ladies.)