Closing house.... or bringing it down... like the movie with Steve Martin.

Ok, so brace yourselves everyone: this blog is, yet again, about my girlfriend. I apologize.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I read the assignment was one situation with a very close friend of mine. When I first started seeing my girlfriend, it caused a lot of waves within my circle of friends. I lost a lot of friendships, but i could not be happier because of it. I found myself in the position, many times, of having to choose. I had to choose between my girlfriend, and my friends. I was put into positions that were not comfortable, nor fun. But I realized i didn't have to be in those positions. My girlfriend and I were not put there for any other reason except to make us unhappy. People were blaming things on my relationship that had no relevance. I'm pretty sure the Taco Bell food poisoning scare was blamed on us... somehow. Anyway, I was able to see what needed to be done: I needed to "clean house".
As time went on I was able to see who was my true friend, and who was not. As the saying goes: "I would rather have one great friend, than a million bad ones." Or something along those lines. Even if I got that quote wrong, I still think they are profound words to live by. I stood up for what I knew, and still know is right, and because of it my life infinitely better.
One friend in particular sticks out in my mind. She and I were really good friends and had a solid relationship, I thought. We never fought and things were always on the up-note... until i started hanging out with the girl who is now my girlfriend. As soon as that happened, my old friend became very different. She became offensive, rude and all around insulting to the both of us, and used many outlets to show it. I offered my help to her for one of her classes, but warned her that because of a show that I was in, I was only going to be able to help her on days which were open to me and she agreed. When push came to shove, and I was not around as much as she needed me to be, she went on blaming my girlfriend for taking me away when I could have been helping my friend. Even though it was clearly not on the fault of my relationship, she still found it a very acceptable scapegoat. So, needless to say I "hit the roof" to quote my mother. Now, as I said in my previous blogs: I have a short temper. I know it, and I own up to it. But I think I do a very good job at picking the battles that I choose to fight... I chose to fight this one. This instance was the end of our friendship.
Once the dust cleared from the "friendships" lost I find myself in a better spot today. My girlfriend and I are happier than ever, and we can actually sit down and have a good belly laugh over what happened in the past. I actually credit all of those situations for how strong our relationship is. We had to go through a lot to get to where we are, and we have never been more grateful to those people for making those few months miserable for us. I guess they were better friends than I thought because if it wasn't for them, I don't know if my girlfriend and I would be as strong as we are today. I would never let those people back into my life again, and I sure as fruck won't be put into any of those situations again, but I am completely confident in knowing that if I was... I'd know exactly how to handle it.

PS: This is now Joe's girlfriend. He was writing this blog in my room and after peering over his shoulder to read the first line, I've realized that you've all probably become pretty familiar with me. So I figured I should at least say hello. Hello! :)