"If we were the kind of people who liked other people.."

...then this wouldn't be nearly as funny!

If I remember correctly. I think I made this remark after meeting a couple in our new neighborhood. I liked them. They seemed to have similar tastes and interests to us. I started to remark how 'if we were the kind of people who liked other people..' and you started laughing before I could finish that train of thought, which would have been, then 'the So&sos are people I would enjoy going out to dinner with on occasion.'

But perhaps there was some truth in what I said? How often have we met some pushy sales person or nosy neighborhood gossip that eventually hints at the same thing: 'Let's be friends so I can see the inside of your house' or '..so I can get more referrals from you' (in the case of the former.) If we had friends, we would certainly keep them from the likes of them!

Perhaps it should give me more than a mere moment's grief that I can't fill out one of those silly referral sheets for my work, a timeshare drawing, or a silly home party prize. I don't have any friends - well at least not any that need to be pestered by people like that. - Do unto others and all that.

Which brings me to my second point... why don't we have more friends? Are we dangerously emeshed like a certain coworker of mine and his codependant spouse (trapazoid lids, anyone?)Our only reliable companions are my brothers and their wives or an occasional coworker and spouse. Is there something wrong with this picture?

I like people. I enjoy watching them. I enjoy making fun of them. I even like that I have the ability to walk away from them when they are boring me. One thing that I like more than most people is my privacy. Our privacy. Sure I have friends, but I do not allow them to intrude on our personal life or our treasured time together. I like being a close knit couple who doesn't need to rely on anyone else for good conversation and fun.