friends of all species

I was with a group of my friends last night. A mix of two women who are a few years older than me and who I adore, the son of one of the women and a guy who asked me out two months ago...and I kinda flaked on him.

I was invited over to my friend's for dinner and it was really a nice time for a variety of reasons.

When I was younger, I thought you could mix and match your friends. You know, bring a friend, a health-conscious zealot you met at the gym, out to dinner with your friend who is on the "see-food diet" and her idea of working out is lifting a cigarette to her mouth. Sometimes opposite species work out, because they find a common ground. And sometimes it can be down-right ugly!

How can you tell if it will end up like a bad blind date?

After all, they both like you, so shouldn't there be a starting point?

As I sat with this group last night, the thought passed my mind. It always does. Wouldn't it be cool if "so and so" met this person? And gee, it'd be great to have a dinner party with all these great people I know. Sometimes the chemistry works and sometimes it does not.

Last night was good--topics ranged from the recent election (one person works in politics), to one guest's New Moon party I attended earlier this year, in which one of the attendees stripped naked to eloquently state her wishes/prayers to the Wolf Moon (And none of us who were there to this day, understand "why" this woman stripped nude) to the ongoing divorce my hostess is enduring in her life, deciding in the future if she does decide to marry, she hopes Prop 8 will be overturned.

There were heated discussions, difference of opinions (agreeing to disagree) and lots of laughter. So who else can I add to the mix? The person who had asked me out in the past was engaging, in fact we all were very lively and opinionated as hell!

I have not come to a conclusion as to who I can bring and where. What I do think is I will have to plan a bit strategically, somehow I will need to have a neutral zone to see who is a hit and who is a miss.

I think we can all be enriched by others, especially people who are so different than ourselves in belief and philosophy. It brings me out into the world to explore more than I would have had I played it safe and never ventured past my front door.