Thoughts

[Patrica Gil]

Why do I carry a purse? Because dresses don’t have pockets. Now that that is said let’s move on. There will be those who will reject us and those who will love us, while even others will not tell the truth about rejecting us. Like others here I know the feeling of being rejected. Yet while this happened it become clear that life goes on.
Interestingly enough those who remain in your life are so much better to be around than those who rejected you from the start. Why not be around those who are okay with us. Those who are not okay with us can be a lot of drama just because they are drama. In the end those relationships ended up being too much work. They have always been a lot of work. Just didn’t always realize it.
As life has allowed me to get older it becomes clear to me that in the end I prefer good company to a lot of company.

[Stephanie47]

"I prefer good company to a lot of company" should be one's aspiration whether or not one is a cross dresser or not.

[Lygophilia]

That's fair. I do feel like I'm too different for society, but that's ok. I think normal is subjective, what's right or wrong in people's eyes, it's so black and white to benefit from. People are what they are.

[kimdl93]

I have strong ties to my immediate and extended family. I am unwilling to risk the loss of those dear to me, even if that means a degree of self denial.

[Micki_Finn]

Hang out with people who like you, avoid people who don’t. Got it. :P

[DIANEF]

Better to have a few good friends than many acquaintances, stands to reason really, but I understand what you mean Gilda.

[Tracii G]

Keep your inner circle to a minimum.
The outer circle with only positive people.
The nasty pain in the ass people don't have anything to do with them.

[Leslie Mary S]

I keep my inner circle down to me and 3 others. The outer circle is only 4 people. Everyone else is out in that area I think of as a cloud that I occasionally enter.

[Teresa]

Gilda,
Not an easy choice when it's a close family member .

Otherwise the circle of new friends is growing , very few appear to have a problem with Teresa .

[Rachael Leigh]

Gilda, I will say this loosing my family has been difficult for me, while my hope was they would understand eventually it just
never happened, I feel alone but I have found support from others just not my close loved ones.
I understand Kim too and she’s right you have to decide is it worth loosing those closest to you. For me it really wasn’t but
it’s too late now for me

[Amelie]

The only company I got is a dog and I'm very happy with that.

[Beverley Sims]

have less friends now than a few years ago but the quality of friendship has risen immensely.

[Michaelasfun]

Amen sister. Quality over quantity any day. Like when someone has a million friends on FB..try posting that you need to borrow money and see how many respond LOL

[April Rose]

Okay, I am going to take a somewhat contradictory position here. It has occurred to me that my gender issues, or rather, my response to them, have made me rather a bad friend. In spite of having good, quality people in my life, I have kept a shell of distance around myself. I am not as close to people who would be open to being close to me, because I can't bring myself to be honest about who I am. How can I expect to make real connection, even to people I have known for years, if I am not willing to be open about myself, and who I really am?

For years I told myself, "well, I shouldn't be burdening them with my issues". But lately I have begun to think. "how can they trust me, if I can't trust them?"

After all these years, It appears i still have work to do.

[Lydianne]

@April Rose: I like the introspection, but in this case, I don't think this makes you any worse a friend to your friends than they are to you. I would think that they would have personal stuff that they would never tell you. So you're even.

However, if we're just focusing upon you here, the stakes are very high. You don't start with the crown jewels to evaluate trustworthiness; you start with the petty cashbox . . . because it would only take one mistake with the CJs and it would all be moot. If another has proven themselves with the petty cash, then you have a decision to make.

Now, if you have branded some petty-cash-trustworthy friends as untrustworthy with the crown jewels without having given them the opportunity, then that might be bad on your part. ( "Might" because it's possible to use other related observations justifiably to exclude them ). However, if you just leave the evaluation open-ended, then as I said earlier, that would just make you even.

:2c:

- Lydianne.
Now, where does she hide the petty cash?!?? I'm sure it's around here somewhere.. I could buy myself a real nice lunch with that dough :P

[t-girlxsophie]

I have a small circle of friends,mostly female and I'm happy with that.But the one person,my son,who I really want to be around,is still not inclined to make that happen.Its then my friends and wife/stepsons become even more important to be around

Sophie