A lover once said "I don't see the lifestyle as a "phase" or just some "wild occassional partying" I really believe it is a natural way to live. No drama, no games, no lying. I do believe one should have a best friend, mate, or other, and that should be with one person. The most successful marriages I know are from lifestyle couples." ( My thoughts exactly)

Today i met with some of my longtime friends for lunch. I had not seen them both together for at least 5 years. (they are twins, one moved to Hawaii to follow her heart, but unforturnately the relationship did not flourish). I have known these women since 4th grade. yes, 4th grade. we were all nine years old! So this friendship had lasted around 28 years!Through grade school, high school, college, moving to different cities, we still kept in touch.We remember birthdays, send card, gifts. Sometimes we dont talk to each other for months, but we know were thinking about each other and it is always understood. I love getting together with them, its always just picking up where we left off. we talked about the past, present, the friends we have lost along the way, and just pretty much anything in general. I sometimes wondered how is that we managed to keep our friendship alive and going all these years and knew beacause we were LOYAL. I was loyal. These days it is such a hard trait to find in people now (just like decent conversation! lol). I think people may make new aquaintences/friends, etc. but do you really keep them? We have such a vast majority on new ways to meet people now per say, online, My space, bars, libraries, sometimes its hard to tell who you want to keep in touch with! I think making connections with people are just as important. For me, I think keeping friendship alive goes both ways. Like love, it is a two-way street, not a one-way street. It is a give and take. (thats why i think they can be both unsuccessful if you don't have that.) People say " I'm too busy"! Well, you know what? We're ALL busy!" It is not easy to maintain friendships. It takes a lot of hard work and effort. "Don't people call just to say, "Hi, how are you doing?" anymore? When you think of some of the friends you have made along life's path, you wonder, " what happened?" " how come we hardly talk?" well, perhaps people change. Maybe you got all you wanted out of the friendship, and they did also. They moved. Maybe they were giving off negative energy, and you just don't need their approval anymore. Who know's??? I have this one friend, we met in 2002 at the Hard Rock hotel in Vegas, I was walking through the lobby in the casino and he approached me. I felt so lucky that of all the really hot people walking around that he wanted to talk to me! Here he was, a handsome yet soft-spoken gentlemen. Mark, a quadrapeligic from Florida. It must have been destiny for us to meet and talk. We talked about Vegas, medicine, Spinal-cord reaseach, Cristopher Reeve (they were friends) I mean, just for those 15-20 minutes to make some kind of connection with a total stranger!( I know most people wouldn't give each other the time and day to talk to a stranger if your not hot enough, let alone be a qaudrapeligic- let's be real here) As our conversation ended we promised to stay in touch and I had left my e-mail with his male nurse that always accompanies him. To this day, we keep in touch via e-mail occasionally to see how everything is going. To me, that is a treasure. When people take the time for you, I take the time for them. I think that is a part of what makes friendship special. I have to go now, I have to send out some e-mails...