The one way street

Frankie: So I always hear the saying, “I’m on a one way street" and at the moment I can relate because I feel like that with some of my friendships.

I’m tired of making all the effort. And I’ll just mention it now, that No!!!
I am not the occasional drama queen, 'Oh woe is me' type of friend. I understand people have stuff going on and I don’t need to see my friends everyday, let alone every weekend to feel close. Just as long as I get some form of effort, communication, show me the love…whatever you want to call it.

So what type of street are you on with your friends. I have taken the liberty in naming some common streets that I have found myself on:

The ‘One Way’ Street: An unpleasant situation to be in, where one side of the friendship is making all the effort and getting nothing back in return. Even though the street is one way…there may be a U turn or an Intersection coming up to change the direction.

The ‘Roundabout’ – Now this is a deceiving traffic condition, whereby you’re making the effort and your friend appears to be reciprocating and making effort, but in actual fact you’re just going round and round in circles. All the promises are empty and all the good intentions and never quite that good. Again, it’s not too late to exit this roundabout way and come to a healthy two way street.

The 'Two way street' - This is the best friendship situation you can get. Not only are you giving the effort, you are getting some in return. Normally these two way streets are moderately smooth and well looked after, so the occurence of bumps and pot-holes are rare. But if they do show up, maintanance fixes them up in a jiffy because when you find yourself on one of these 'Two way streets' you rarely want to get off and will go out of your way to ensure complete road safety.

The 'T intersection': This condition occurred between a long term friend and myself. We had been plodding along the same way for some time, both making half hearted efforts, taking the relationship for granted and not instilling as much jazz as you would in a new relationship. We finally came to that dreaded T intersection. Straight ahead was a dead end, to the left was a no through road and to the right was a new street. We took the right. It was a new street in our friendship that we worked and concentrated on.

The 'No Through Road' - This occurs when there are tough times ahead in a friendship. Most times you will have a slight idea that the 'No through' road is just up ahead, sometimes your completely oblivious to it. I had a 'No Through' road occurence recently. I had an idea it was coming up, wasn't sure when, but then, I hit it. I took a moment to gather my thougths and direction and then turned around and headed back the long path to home.

A 'No Through road' on a 'one way street': This is said to be the worst and most detrimental condition of a friendship. Not only are you on a one way street but you know that there is a no through road up ahead. This one is bound for disaster and doom, so steer clear of this possible trap because you rarely come out of this one with a saved friendship.