My circle of friends is small. It’s so small that that my close friends are less than all the fingers on both my hands< insert evil laugh >.
I’ll explain a few things, not to validate the number of my friends but to shed some light on a few things that you could put into consideration.
- I’m an extremist. I’m either all in or all out. For me its either Black or White, no grays. P.S my new seats could be gray just to get a feel of Gray..
- I have no mental energy for pretense or hypocrisy.
- I have such strong body language that what I won’t say, my body will eventually mention it.
“Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.”
– Thomas J. Watson
The relationship has to be a WIN_WIN. It’s either you’re learning from me or I’m learning from you. It could be a synergy where we complement each other and energy flows both sides. I can’t be friends in a setting where both of us are useless to each other, I’d rather direct that energy into something with more Impact.
At a really young age, I was always comfortable with people older than me. In my Primary Three, it was no shock to find me hanging with Primary Five chaps not to mention that my favorite friend was in Primary Seven. Reason: I found most of the conversations with my age mates boring or I would just be disinterested. For some reasons , I thrive on Challenges. I really love a good challenge. I love to be dared, just tell me that you CAN’T. Even when I don’t know how to do it, I’ll make it a point to learn how to do it just because I was challenged. Hanging out with people older than me always kept me challenged. I would want to know what they know so I can be able to engage and keep active during their conversations.
I fell in love with football because I needed to argue with my dad sometimes. No wonder I was an Arsenal fan while his heartbeat was Manchester United. By the way my dad, is one of my close friends.
I want to tell you about my friends that became family. One of them is Miles(not real name). We used to be in the same coaching class, he was a quiet individual while I was quite the trouble maker. I had a tendency of be friending those people that were apparently not easy to interact with. Can I say they challenged me? If they ever pointed out someone you could never be friends with, I would challenge myself to become their friend. Should I say it would become an assignment or a project?!!!!
Miles was unlucky to be one of my projects/assignments. I constantly disturbed him or bullied him in a friendly way. (I can actually be a big bully sometimes). Over time I won him over and I succeeded in dragging him out of class during lunch breaks to share a few samosas and Irish potatoes. When I joined the boarding section, he would bring me home cooked food every weekend. During vacation, whenever he got paid, he would call and ask what I wanted to have always using the phrase “Bonita, a car full of money crushed on me!”
This stopped being a friendship, it escalated into brotherhood and sisterhood. When we were at university, I would be broke sometimes. Most times too broke to even have transport back home, this was because I would have diverted my transport resources to other things or for some random reason not have transport. He owned a bike and with just a call, I would have secured a ride back home. He was the chief validator of all my boyfriends. If you fail his test… you’re out of the window.
To be continued….
Bonita Beatrice 