Edgar “Friendly”

While I’m on the topic of friends or being friendly, I had an interesting conversation at the gym today. After saying hi to a girl who was very helpful when I first signed up, she decided to ask me a burning question today. She was curious as to why I am always so friendly to her.

I’m the type, I have no problem starting up a conversation w/a complete stranger. (There’s a surprise right?) I don’t know if it’s just because I’m a friendly person or if it involves something much deeper. Maybe, because I was never given much physical affection as a child. On the latter, Dr Freud is on vacation so we’ll just have to save it and crack it open on a later date. Back on story, not everyone here in SF is always receptive to my friendly ways.

I could tell she was a bit timid so I just told her to spit it out. She wanted to know if I was gay. I said, “of course.” Her response was, “I thought so I just wanted to be sure because you are always so friendly and I thought you might be trying to hit on me.” So this got us to talking about my being friendly and how receptive people here are. Or more to the point, she wanted to know if it bothered me when people weren’t receptive. It took me a minute to form a response as I’ve never really consciously thought about it. But there it was, and I was given a chance to bring it into the conscious mind. My response was I really don’t care. Simply put, if I change my ways because I find some folks aren’t receptive then I let that mentality win over. I think my friendliness or being approachable is part of what makes me so appealing to most people. Of course, I’m sure it will turn some people off to me as well. However, no one is liked by all so again that’s a no brainer.

I just thought this relevant as it was kind of a revelation to me. Maybe just because I’ve never really thought much of it. It has just always been part of who I am. Today, I got an insight into myself from a complete stranger. I guess that shows I’m still learning.