Such Good Friends

Yes, I admit it. I am inconsistent with my friend policy on Facebook. I have some nieces and nephews, but not all. Some cousins, but not others. I have some people I have met just once, but not all. I have some classmates from way back when, but not all. Many are close friends, meaning we actually are friends in the real as well as the online world. Some are casual acquaintances. All are people, for one reason or another, that I would like to stay in contact with. Facebook is an easily accessible forum to accomplish that. Over the three years I have had a Facebook account friends have come and gone. Some have closed their accounts. Some have dropped me for whatever reason they may have, I have dropped some for my own reasons. My count as of today is 111. And I expect the number will probably remain in that neighborhood. I regularly interact with about twenty of them, sporadically another twenty. Leaving seventy or so who are either rarely logged in or who primarily interact with their own smaller circle that I am on the fringes of. I have no desire to weed out those friends, I think that attrition occurs more organically than that. At least for me it does. I have only dropped friends from my list when I truly desire no further contact with them. I have ignored friend requests from only a few people and figure they ought to know why. By the same token, there are a few people who I have sent requests to and have been ignored by. Only a couple of those are a mystery to me. I have my theories. But I really don't know. For the most part I don't take it personally, but I remain curious. In one relationship category I am remarkably consistent. My friends list contains no boyfriends or lovers. Of the past, present, or future varieties. Nary a one. Well, okay. There is one that blurs the line a little, but he's the exception that proves the rule. So when I say that they're friends, I don't mean "friends". At least for today, that is. You never can tell who will show up around that metaphorical corner.