Wrightly or wrongly, my dad, from when we (my brothers and sisters) were young told us not to rely on any one other than immediate family and I never really have - although a couple of people have since been adopted into my immediate family

That's probably why, I don't really make a distnction between real life and online friends...maybe my 'friends' are just really good acquaintances? IDK... I really don't like labels!

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Benjamin Franklin

While they may seem shady I have some really good friends in my social networking where I live. I like that line from Mr. Roger's neighborhood. "Who are the people in your neighborhood?" I have built up quite a survivor's group of people I can rely on. It is through the need scenario that I have found them. They know they can count on me when the chips are down and I know that I can count on them when the chips are down.

Recently the chips have been down for me a lot and I have had to do some begging. And begging isn't something I would rather not do. I like being independent and standing on my own two feet. I like not having to ask anybody for anything. But through my own dumb luck at the learning curve I have made some mistakes. Case in point. I drove this truck in second gear for the last two weeks. Sure it is a 318 V8 and my friend said when he sold it to me that it would use more than the 2.6 four cylinder. He told me that the gear shift on the automatic was sloppy. He told me that the gas gauge wasn't working right. He also told me that it needed a tune up, oil change and had a transmission leak. But when I told him that I put $70 in it at pay day he told me with my slow driving and that I don't travel any great distance that I should make it through two weeks of driving. You can bet I know where drive is at on the steering column now I have used that much gas. It is between D and N. It doesn't seem that powerful as it did when I was driving in second gear all this time. One of the last things he said this morning when he lent me some money for gas is, "I bet you have been driving in second gear." He was right and I told him he was right. It was kind of funny to me when I told him I found this whole new gear. But it also was an expensive lesson to me, too.

With my friends I have to be there with them, too. But with acquaintances one would think that it might be different. The only trouble with that with me is though is that I am building up a much larger network of friends. It seems like the larger the network the more it behooves me to be more honest about what is my mistake and what might be some other person's mistake. Social networking is an awesome thing. And I think it would be an awesome thing in any kind of economy from my experience.

Some of things I have found that have grown in my experience with the networking is trust, honesty, communication, reliability, accountability and a lot of things that I also noted from the reading of the forum what a lot of women are looking for into what might be termed quality in a good relationship. But, of course, that is only my opinion. Can I prove it? I can only prove myself. I can't really prove it to the masses.

sorry for the confusion with the pic... it's of my eldest son, and his new daughter, my granbaby...last time I looked, I was still female..

I guess I need a dryer sheet, because I'm just staying static.

Your dad got it right in one

I'm just lucky that he believed in big families

Just had a look..... I agree..no doubt whatsoever..you are a woman Congratulations on your recently arrived Grandchild Granny

ha.
and this is why i call no one friend.
(:

I understand ....you are looking for a man for friendship

i'm not looking.

I have good people I call colleagues and contemporaries but I had no close friends when I moved to Canada

No problem..It says that on your profile

I do wonder if it is cultural, or regional, or what may be the underlying factors attached to friendliness, and developing close trusting friendships.

I know for Josie and I, as aussies, we are easy going, outgoing, friendly.

Josie lives in an isolated city, with a fairly small (comparable to other countries,) population... I live in an isolated, tiny village- total population of the district of 2500 people...I wonder if that has an influence on how we veiw relationships...

We live close to each other,(Not Josie and I, we are 1000's of kms apart) being in a small town here, we support each other, we see each other daily, we get to learn of each other, so have this trust of familiarity in place...I wonder if that influences our outlook.

it also says i'm over seven feet tall.
:p

You're a big girl then

I have many acqaintences but very few real friends. These are the people that I trust with my life and that I would give my life for. I have three of them here in Calgary.

I can count the number of people that I consider to be friends on one hand. I have known most of them for several years. If I had to categorize people as either friends or acquaitances, I have more aquaintances than friends.

Friends are people that I can count on to be there to help me and me help them out.

If you can count your real friends on one hand then you are a lucky person. Not surprised by people that say they do not have any real friends. I myself have vacancies on that hand.

Why aren't you surprised when people say they do not have any real friends? That surprises me quite a bit.

For those of you who don't have real friends, who do you spend time with? Acquaintances?

myself.
and family because it's obligatory.