Watching from the outside

People never cease to amaze me and watching friends and the way they lead their lives is better than any movie you can ever watch.
At the age where every one of my friends is obsessed with finding "the one" and getting hitched and starting their families I have to sit back and kind of take it all in. It kind of reminds me of a scene in Mean Girls where they are in the mall and all of the kids start acting like wild animals. The fact that the carnal instinct in all of us can take over in our hormone raging years makes me laugh and really contemplate who is a real friend and who is looking to use you as a personal dating service. People ask me frequently why I am not part of the dating craze as so many others are. And I snicker at the notion that I don't broadcast my love life to the public because I am a "player" and don't want to get caught. Truth is I have learned that throwing yourself over any member of the opposite sex is the best way to mask multiple excursions of romance. Nobody takes a flirt seriously!
For some reason I must have a sign on my forehead that says that I can keep a secret and have words of advice that may help because almost all of my friends like to tell me about, well, everything. I really don't mind at all. If someone has that kind of trust in me I take it as a compliment and kind of smile at the notion. I keep things to myself and really enjoy knowing that when one person says one thing about another I usually have already heard the other persons version or know how they feel about the situation. Trying to keep a straight face has been the toughest thing of it all. Not true. Trying to tell people what I think they want to hear more so than what I really think has been the toughest. I want to see all of my friends happy and who am I to throw a wrench in that. As much as I don't worry about having friends and really don't care what people think of me I do hate to see people in distress and upset. I tell you that happiness is the best thing that we can have and it is up to each individual to decide what that is for them. Sometimes it is being with someone that everyone scratches their head and sometimes it is moving away and starting over. Honestly I sometimes wish I could do both. I say to each his own and best of luck to them. Having experienced things that most of my friends have not I take a different look at things. I wish I could explain that to them and help them understand my way of looking at issues and what is really significant. Just a little food for thought. I'm now ranting and raving. LOL!
As I was saying, I'm watching from the outside, maybe just waiting to have an inside.