friendship take-a-way

I’m a compartment girl. Pretty sure I always have been. It’s not that I’m all that organized either. I just like that specific things have specific places for them. The sunglass place in my car - love it. The loose coin holder - fabulous. It’s the little things with me. . . . most of the time.

Last night in speaking [okay, texting] with a girlfriend she says, “It’ll be nice to meet your other friends and [gasp] even some of your family.” All of the sudden I felt nervous. Maybe even anxious about this “meeting”. odd. After a few minutes, I think I’ve figured out why.

[bear with me]

I love getting food “take-a-way” style. When you get things “to-go” you know your sticky rice will be in one container and your sugar encrusted orange chicken will be in another. In ordering a salad [even at McD's] to go, the dressing will always be in it’s own nesting area. Brilliant.

Now there are a few places that get it right even when dining “in”. KFC, for example. The divided place. Awesome. One of the best inventions to date. Being able to eat heavily souped up gravied mashed potatoes with out the thought of cross-contamination into the mac-n-cheese . . . Pure bliss.

Heck they even get it right at public schools. No runny, soggy veggies migrate over into the beef [?] pasta layered thing. Incredible.

So - this is me and my albeit lame dilemma.

I like my different [groups] of friends. I like them in their own part of my divided plate. I’m worried that inner mingling of the groups would take away the unique flavor of each of them.

For the most part, I like to see my “work” / shopping friends only when I’m “working”. Seeing them in my doctor’s office or at the gym is odd.

The “inner circle” friends. Like my FAV 5 of friends. My backbone friends. Always building me up. Never threaten. Never feel the need to “one up” or intimidate. Lifelong friends. I’m most protective of this group. I keep this group separated like the bank notes in monopoly.

Email / social media friends. People I “know” only through email. {It’s not as bizarre as it sounds when you run an Internet based business.} Amazing how much you can get to “know” a person without having seen them or heard their voice.

My “boy”-like friends. These are my friends that are completely LOW-maintenance. The friends you can go 6 months without talking to and feel like it was yesterday. No drama here. The trick is to not have these friends mix with the “others” so they don’t know they really can forget your birthday and you truly won’t be mad.

Church friends - I like to see them at church. In a church setting. To see them at the gym when I’m in a bra top and little running shorts. Creeps me out. On the flip side. Seeing gym friends when I am properly dressed is weird too.

My social friends [mostly those whom I’ve gotten to know through the Pita’s work; spouses of employees or employees] . . . I don’t like them to know any of the above mentioned friends. They are typically a little “louder” than my friend "norm" and I worry they’ll be misunderstood by my “calmer” possibly more so called "grown-up" friends. But that's why I love them - they are a little loud and a lot of fun.

The "neighbor" friend is the one who gets to be nosey and see almost all of these different groups [in their given expensive or barely running cars] turn up to your home. These are the friends who think I have issues. ;) They are more comfortable seeing me in my "mom" role than my hosting a tri-nations rugby get together - [I "do it for the Pita"] / wife role.

Is this odd? Normal? Do you ever feel this way?

Are these groups meant to be mixed up like a casserole? I hate casseroles.