I’d posted in Facebook: “There are times…when I wonder whether people do like me..or are just too polite to tell me otherwise!”

To this, one response, from Sharbari Lahiri in Canada, was:”Are you wondering that about your fb friends or life in general?”

So I must make the distinction between friends and “friends”. Friends are those whom I know WELL (I may not yet have met them face-to-face, but they are good friends…when I finally met , it was no different from "e-knowing" her, and we spent so many days together in perfect amity!

“Friends” are those whom I have liked some facet of, or those who have liked some facet of me; we have not yet met, face-to-face, or if we’ve met, the chemistry has not gelled; we don’t mind the occasional meeting, but it’s unlikely to go beyond this.

But there is a third category…when friends become “friends”…I further responded to Sharbari: “ “I was thinking of life in general…when feelings of liking wane, as interests diverge…I feel the gap and wonder if the other person feels it too…”

It’s sometimes difficult, especially if meetings are perforce not regular, to know if friends are turning into “friends”…and one does not like to ask, in case they are still friends and are hurt by the query…

I am a person who values friendships highly, and do not consider any friendship worth giving up. Most of the friendships that have cooled in my life are due the cooling on the other side.

Just a few random thoughts, that’s all! I love my friends, and they are the greatest treasure of my life, and the source of a lot of my energy.