Friends?????

I have been MIA...Miss me? 
Sure ya did. 
Please allow me to explain. Work picked up quite a bit for me, and I was given a marketing assignment with a deadline and since I hate marketing that took a lot of time but now I am back and hopefully I can stay back.
Just as I have neglected my blog apparently I have neglected my friends as well. I know that a while ago I posted about how I had very few friends and liked it that way. Well that changed. See, a new girl started on my job a couple months ago and really pursued being friends with me. She was so nice and so persistent that I decided what the hell? She is the type of person that stays out of her house ALL day into the night. She gets the kids out early and they do not return home until bedtime. Me,,,I love being at home but upon her insistence that I was "missing out on life" I decided to try her lifestyle out for a while. And just like her and with her I stayed going, going, going. Pretty much for an entire month. Every day. It was work then gym and then pool. Weekends were full of pool parties and barbecues. All fun stuff but meanwhile my home was neglected........

An accurate pic of what my home looked like while I tried living in the moment.

my kids never ate so much bbq and sandwich meat. We ran outta clean socks, the linens rarely got changed, I was way behind on my TV shows and my blogging and I was dead tired.

Finally I decided enough was enough and pulled back. No more hanging out til bedtime for me and my kids. No more pool 6 days a week, no more anything . I stopped cold turkey because seriously I was living someone else life. I am a scheduled-stay-at-homer. I enjoy life but do not have a "zest" for it. I have no desire to "make every minute count". That is just not me! I'm not an an adventurous type that lives in the moment. In my defense I work full time and have four kids. None of my friends have that load on them. But boy when I stopped hanging out it caused controversy. The friends I had been hanging out with took it personally and even after I explained that I just don't enjoy being out every night it did not seem to help. Add to that the fact that one of my dear friends from the past that had moved out of state returned and wanted to spend all her time with me in the middle of me taking my life back.
At least daily I would get 10 calls/texts from a group of 4 women wondering when I would have time to hang out? Or how come I'm not at the pool? Or when can we go walking? How about breakfast? After I declined every offer the unannounced visits to my home started . And boy let me tell ya I hate unannounced visitors to my home! Despise them! Would rather die than have someone bust by unannounced. If you call me and I don't answer either I'm busy or do not want to be bothered! Ugggghh!!!
I try so hard to be nice, but damn.
So anyhoo I have some stories for y'all about all these "friends " of mine and the complications but won't try to put them all here in this post. In addition to that I have been to the urologist and that too is a post :) And of course an update on David and kiddy stories so trust me I got the goods I just need to have time to post them. 
Just wanted people to know I was still around and ask does anyone else hate friends as much as me? Okay I don't hate them but does anyone else feel friendships are more a hassle then anything else? Or do I just have needy friends? Why do I feel like friends are another chore on my to do list? I have fun with them when I'm with them for the most part but it just never seems to be enough.  Or am I just damn mean?

FRIENDS

 I am one of those people that don't have  a lot of friends. Sure my Facebook page says I have 80something of them but most of those are people I am related to or went to school with, friend's kids, my kids etc. I prefer things that way. I do not make friends easily, I never have.
People seem to like me but I do not seem to like many people. I get annoyed with people easily and just frankly do not like having so many friends that I have to keep up. All the birthdays, anniversaries, their kids birthdays all their drama etc. Way too much work for me. I find it exhausting. I know that I am not a good friend so I try not to engage friendships. I take friendships very seriously. It's not that I am a recluse by any means, just that I find maintaining friendships hard work and I have enough work with all my kids so I disengage.
For some reason people are drawn to me. They meet me. They love me???? Even when I am rude?? I do have a small circle of friends that are dear to me. Friends I can count on one hand. I have a true best friend that's old enough to be my dad but he is an amazing man and I love him dearly. He and I see a lot of things eye to eye. He gives me my space. We talk daily and see each other every month or so for lunch. I adore this man and even named my last son after him. He is older and wiser and has bailed me out of troubles before. I know that he truly cares for me. I can call him up each day (and I do) and rant and rave about my drama. He listens and does not judge. This friendship has spanned 13 years. Although it took maybe 5 years for me to really consider him a friend.
My next friend is a gal I grew up with, lost contact with for a few years and then found on facebook. She is the funniest chick I know. She is someone I look up to and admire. She is the mother I aspire to be. We are similar in so many ways and so different in many others. She is fun, funny, smart, bitchy and very together and if I need someone to kick someones ass, she would be the one to do it. She is also very frank with me and I love her for it! This friendship has spanned 25 years. It took even longer for me to consider her my friend.
Then I have one more friend. She is opposite of me. Conservative, Christian, quiet, everything I am not. She is anti-Internet, hates that I blog and facebook (she thinks I am too old for all that). She is not the girl I would take to a party or share a drink with but lord knows if I called her in the middle of the night she would come. I trust her completely. We also work together wherever we go. One goes (usually me) and then I come get her. This friendship has spanned 12 years. Again about 5 years to become friends.
These three could not be more different. The differences in their ages are vast. Their religious beliefs range from a Jehovah, a Christian , to I don't know what Wendy is. Their life stories are very different. Their interests are very different, their personalities extremely different. Therefore they have never met.
Now I have lots of "friends" but these three are the people that I call or see almost daily and I truly love and truly trust. There is a whole other circle of "friends" that I care for and spend time with but it is more sporadic. If any of these three moved far away I would be lost. They each know my deepest secrets and I am totally comfortable with that.
I'm laying that foundation to say this:
I recently have felt such connections with people online. It's so much easier to have these type of friendships. Since blogging I have encountered one gal in particular that I just simply adore. I love that she complains, I admire her compassion for others, her honesty and something about her just feels warm to me. Weird huh?

The girl that doesn't want anymore friends. You have to really work hard at cracking my tough exterior in real life to be my friend but online a few concerned, caring emails and you're in. Funny how that happens. It feels like this  person is one that should be added to the elite three. Like I've known her forever. We have already shared some personal things and even have a mutual online secret. Then comes the talk of meeting one day. I wonder is this just online etiquette or does this truly happen? Has anyone ever met someone in person that they met on online? Someone who doesn't live close by? How did it turn out ? Were  they all you dreamed them to be or was it awkward? When you met in person did you realize things weren't as cozy as online or was it the start of something new? Please share your online friend experiences with me.