BWAT

 

No I’m not going to talk about the Bates-Jensen Wound Assessment Tool or the Blue Water Area Transit system.  I guess I might be referencing a Bunny With A Toolbelt slightly.  But what I’m really writing about today is my BWAT:   Besty With A Testy.

Most of my life, I’ve had more close friends who were male than female.  And if I were to pass anytime soon, my male friend count would likely outnumber my female friend count at my funeral.  I’ve had times where I’ve felt a little odd about this fact.  Not really sure why though.  Maybe just because it isn’t the “norm.”  But heck, what parts of my life do fit in the mould?  Not too many.

There are some huge benefits (no, not THOSE kind of benefits) that can be realized with having a platonic friendship with someone of the opposite sex / sexual orientation.  In my case, here are a few that I’ve experienced:

• Someone to go out with when you’re not in a relationship.  My current BWAT and I have gone to the movies, dinner, parties, flea markets, and to hear live bands together.  Things we both enjoy doing but since neither of us has a partner right now, we do them together.
• Excellent gauge on dating prospects.  If I were to start seeing anyone, even before my kids met him, I would make sure my BWAT met him first.  Why?  A guy can read another guy, including his sincerity and BS levels, better than a woman whose vision may be blurred by the possibility of romantic notions.
• When in a relationship, I have vented some of its crap to a BWAT.  They’ve been able to come back at me from a guy’s perspective that I won’t get angry about since there’s no emotional attachment to it.  So if I was griping about why the love of my life always left the toilet seat up and my BWAT said “well I do it because I’m just lazy”, I wouldn’t yell back at him about how inconsiderate of my feelings he was being.  I guess it’s the good old “men are from mars, women are from venus” kind of thing.
• Handyman.  Need I say more?  Okay, I will.  I ain’t no Mrs-Fixer-Upper.  I buy tools, if you can call them that, at dollar stores.  I use YouTube to figure out how to check the oil in my car.  And I’m weak in the muscular sense of the word.  Plus, I don’t like to to sweat.  So I call on BWATs and males in my family to do lots of those things for me.  And they happily do because they love me.
• They help me curb my drama.  Not that I’m much of a dramatic female to begin with mind you.  One fine example that my current BWAT helped me with was quitting a job.  I had been moaning’n’groaning to him about how I wanted to do it for months.  One day he arrived at my house as I was actually typing up a resignation email.  He told me if I didn’t hit send on it, he was going to do it for me.  I hit send.  It was one of the best things I have done.  Thanks to my BWAT, I got real with myself.  Interestingly enough, he used to be my boss at a previous job.

 

So in response to today’s Daily Prompt:  Friend, I would like to say that I value all of the friendships I have had over the years.  Double XX or X&Y, all of my friends have brought blessings to my life that I could only ever dream of being able to re-gift to them.  Today, I just wanted to give a special shout-out to the BWATs I have and have had the utmost privilege of calling friend.

And to my current BWAT – you know who you are – these two video clips came to mind as I was thinking about our friendship.  You keep being the Rob Base to my DJ E-Z Rock and the two of us will make it outta sight.  But if you EVER try to pick me up the way Danny picks up Sandy, you will very quickly become my Besty Without A Testy.

 

 

 

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Listen to music. It could save your soul. Be kind. It could save someone’s world. Wear a hat. It could save your life.