My friends are compartmentalized. It’s always been this way, but I don’t think I’ve ever stepped back and analyzed it until recently.
There are a handful that I count as Bad Weather Friends. Those are the ones that I go to mainly when things are tough. They are my sounding board, my lightening rod. I don’t expect, or want, advice from them necessarily. I just want to be able to tell them everything and not worry about the information flowing in unwanted circles.
There are the parents of my kid’s friends who can be broken down into subcategories; the Sports Parents and the School Parents. The Sports Parents are the ones that you travel with, spend holidays with when there’s a tournament, and sit in the bleachers with. I spend the most actual time with these friends during the season and then don’t talk to them at all in off-season. Then there are the School Parents which are the ones that our sons have basically selected for us. Again, as our kids go in and out of relationships, so do us parents. One of the School Parent friends will text me to share good news about her kids – I love receiving the news and sharing in her joy. It never feels like bragging and I never feel anything but proud too. I must be in her Proud Mama category. And I have no idea how this little relationship morphed into a new category or why. It just did and it’s nice.
Then there are the Plain Old Friends that have always been my friends by no extra-curricular influence. It’s funny that I spend the least amount of time with them. I could make time, but I don’t and I have no good excuse for that.
And the ever-popular Work Friends. Again, they’ve been placed in my life by circumstance and therefore aren’t necessarily chosen. I do spend much time with these friends, but probably wouldn’t if we didn’t have work as the common thread. Once I no longer work with them, it seems that the relationships become a little awkward. Like you’ve run out of things to say.
It’s interesting that I don’t seem to have a one-size-fits-all friend category. I think many people do have this category, but not me. I wonder which way is most common?
There are a handful that I count as Bad Weather Friends. Those are the ones that I go to mainly when things are tough. They are my sounding board, my lightening rod. I don’t expect, or want, advice from them necessarily. I just want to be able to tell them everything and not worry about the information flowing in unwanted circles.
There are the parents of my kid’s friends who can be broken down into subcategories; the Sports Parents and the School Parents. The Sports Parents are the ones that you travel with, spend holidays with when there’s a tournament, and sit in the bleachers with. I spend the most actual time with these friends during the season and then don’t talk to them at all in off-season. Then there are the School Parents which are the ones that our sons have basically selected for us. Again, as our kids go in and out of relationships, so do us parents. One of the School Parent friends will text me to share good news about her kids – I love receiving the news and sharing in her joy. It never feels like bragging and I never feel anything but proud too. I must be in her Proud Mama category. And I have no idea how this little relationship morphed into a new category or why. It just did and it’s nice.
Then there are the Plain Old Friends that have always been my friends by no extra-curricular influence. It’s funny that I spend the least amount of time with them. I could make time, but I don’t and I have no good excuse for that.
And the ever-popular Work Friends. Again, they’ve been placed in my life by circumstance and therefore aren’t necessarily chosen. I do spend much time with these friends, but probably wouldn’t if we didn’t have work as the common thread. Once I no longer work with them, it seems that the relationships become a little awkward. Like you’ve run out of things to say.
It’s interesting that I don’t seem to have a one-size-fits-all friend category. I think many people do have this category, but not me. I wonder which way is most common?
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