Women, Farts and Friendship
Ξ July 20th, 2005 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Costa Rica, Whatever |
I heard a joke many years back that ran along the lines that women don’t fart as much as men because they talk so much they never have a opportunity to build up any real pressure.
ML was home all day and about 2PM we picked up her best friend Marjorie who came over for “coffee”. “Coffee” is a Costa Rican term for “talk”. And talk they did. Five straight hours with nary a stop for the bathroom and some of Jeanette’s birthday cake. I adjourned to my office and then the bedroom to sorta get out of the way.
I just don’t get it. What on earth can any two people talk about for five hours? These are two women who see each other every day. They work together at the same hospital… eat lunch together… stop for their breaks together. I mean it is not like they haven’t seen each other for years and have a lot of catching up to do. They have been best friends for about thirty years! They know every intimate detail of each other’s lives, their family’s lives and their friends lives. So what the hell do they have to say for 5 hours? I don’t listen… fearful that I may at some point become “the subject” and not like what I hear… or maybe like what I hear. Either way, I split for the other end of the house.
I have a best friend here. Ryan and I go to lunch about twice a month. We are good buddies. We do not work together though my company does work for his company. Saying that, never have we come close to five hours. Two hours maybe when one of us has a crisis about something (like when I was deciding to ask ML to marry me), and three hours once or twice, (but there was beer involved, which distorts time).
Friendship is odd. I do not makes friends easily. My requirements are maybe too high. I like people best who are intelligent… people who have an opinion. I really need to get to know a person first before they are a friend. I prefer acquaintance. I like it best when they agree with ME of course, but that has never been a requirement. I also don’t bandy about the word friend a lot. I have known people for thirty years, but I have never had a friend for thirty years. In Costa Rica, this is common however. People grow up together, go to high school or maybe university together, often remain in the same neighborhood for years, and they see each other publicly in lotsa places. Going to college in the US separates people… maybe they remain friends… maybe not. Later, careers, marriages separate them again. The US is just so BIG, it is easy to let those relationships fall by the way. Costa Rica is so small… people stay close. Friendships last forever it seems. Whatta wonderful place this is.
