Friendship.  What defines a friendship between individuals? How is a friendship defined?  

I once had someone tell me I don't what friendship is because I wouldn't do something for two reason - One, I had just started a new job and was unsure of what my pay would be over the course of time and Two, I had just moved and didn't have the money.  So that makes a bad friend?  Now, this particular incident occurred several years ago but it sets the stage of what friendship means to me and how I define my friendships albeit I have some eclectic group of friends.  

First, I have levels - levels of trust, levels of who I trust and then levels of friends who are more than friends they are family.  There are individuals I do consider friends but maybe not trust them to a certain degree especially with some of my more guarded secrets.  Then I groups of friends that know just about everything about me there is to know.  Some are very good friends and some are family just because of th close relationship.  One individual , S.S., I have known since we were kids, growing up next door to each other, doing just about everything together, just a lot of shared experiences of growing up in the same area during the 80's.  Why is this important?  Because, friendships help define who we are, who I am as a person, a testament to my character.  

S.S. had a bad motor vehicle accident and he was paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.  A few of us stood by his sided when others decided that they could not deal with it, forty plus years of friendship/brotherhood.  We have had and will have each others backs for a long time to come.  This is not just limited to one person, Why?  Once someone gains my trust, they will have a friend for life unless that trust is broken and then I will never trust that person ever again.  So what does this have to do with being a trans person?  Everything.  Coming out to someone takes a lot of courage because you don't know how they will react, what they will say or who they will tell.  My ex-wife told her family without really consulting me, she did not trust me from the beginning and always blamed me for issues in the marriage, no I was not perfect but neither was she.  She never put in the effort to try and understand or just accept me for me, there were other factors but it made the relationship toxic.  

I say all of this because of recent events and the group of friends I have formed while living in Louisville, they have been...I cannot describe what they have truly been but if next year is anything like this year then it can only get better and a lot more fun.  I cannot say enough about my friends only that without them I would still be hiding that part of me and being miserable.

Thank you all <3