On Old Friends

I had planned to spend this evening sitting on the terrace of the Highlander Pub with my good friend, but fate had other plans. Not an hour after we'd sat down and started our catchings-up, but another very old, very dear friend of mine (and acquaintance of my other friend) passed by and ended up joining us.

What started out as quick pint to catch up on the last month or so, turned into the kind of evening where the time just flew by because I was with two wonderful friends. We chatted about how life had been doing, what our respective siblings and mutual friends had been up to, but also touched on philosophy, as we're all quite thoughtful people.

One thing I noticed (and this is continuing the thread I started sever posts ago), is my behaviour around the friend that joined us by surprise. As I said, he's a very dear friend from when I was in high school. And I found myself in a very strange kind of mood. Usually, when I'm around men I'm attracted to (and this is a fellow that I've been attracted to since high school - though I'd never date him...), I'm nervous, and a bit of a bumpkin. But I'm so comfortable around him that I noticed that I was flirting effortlessly. Not flirting with a mission; I didn't want to get into his pants or anything, but flirting like I see other girls do on a regular basis. And that got me thinking: no wonder I'm such a disaster around men: they terrify me. Ha ha ha!! It was nice, though, to be around an attractive young man who I knew cared about me, and that I didn't have to be on my guard around.

I also can't help gushing about how wonderful the evening was. The warm afternoon cooling into a brisk evening, a few glasses of wine. All three of us drank enough to loosen up, but not enough to be drunk: the happy medium. There was an balance of conversation - no one person dominated it. And the waitress was very nice. And in the end, all of us realized it was time to depart, but none of us regretted it because it was neither too late nor too early. And as if the evening couldn't get any better, both of my friends made plans for the next time to get together with me.

I may complain about my lack of a love life, and yes, I do wish I had a man to share my life (and my bed!) with, but it's nights like this that really make my life feel complete. As if there's no better place to be than who I am, where I am, at this very moment. I'm happy that it happened, but not resentful that it's over, because I know that while I have wonderful friends, I'll always be able to look forward to more nights like this...