I'm a Libra Man

Last Saturday George and I went to see After the Garden. During the show, Little Edie talks about how she is looking for her Libra Man - her ideal lover. She even searched the audience looking for a Libra Man - I didn't raise my hand in time for her to see me. Whew!

Last night I was at Urban Outfitters in Gallery Place and I was looking through a horoscope book reading about Libra - my zodiac sign. Amongst the many flattering things that are written about Librans - we are truly wonderful - I read some uncomfortable truths.

One of those is that we need friends and fear being lonely. Okay, I deal with lonely pretty well - but that is part of the problem for us Librans - we cope well enough that we don't tell our friends that we need them. And I have been feeling particularly friendless lately.

Friendless isn't the right term - forgive the hyperbole. I just don't feel very well connected to my friends. And there's what I call the Facebook effect.

This morning on my walk from the Metro I was again thinking about my friends Jack and Lorraine Hall. They moved from Baltimore, Maryland to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia in the mid-1970s. I met them through a church choir. Jack and Lorraine were the same ages as my parents and they were lots of fun.

From the time I knew them I was spending many weekend evenings at their home. There was usually a big group of us - playing games - Jeopardy, Scrabble, etc. and laughing, singing and talking. It was never a big deal party - chips and sodas and cookies.

How does one do that? How do you make yourself open to friends so they want to come and visit? My family home was like that - people would just drop by. I talk with George about this - I want to have people over - but I want it informal - hanging out, playing the piano. Not something that requires three days of shopping and cooking.

Ah the irony - a couple of days ago my daily horoscope said that I should seek isolation. Good thing I don't believe in horoscopes!