Friendship

I got a call yesterday from a woman friend who I spent most of the summer helping move. She had been in her large suburban home for almost 40 years and it was a trying experience getting her to make decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of. Need I say she is a hoarder that can't make decisions? She's finally almost unpacked in her 800 square foot condo.

She wanted to tell me how much she appreciates having a male friend for the first time in her life. That astounded me - a 64 year old woman who has never had a male friend! I guess that having been married four times might have been a clue to the idea that men are either lovers or casual acquaintances, but that is so foreign to my way of thinking I never considered it. I have several women who I can call good friends where romance or sex is not part of the picture. I just have to wonder whether being transgendered ( she doesn't know) made me feel safe enough to her to allow a deeper friendship.