In Reply to: Re: Recovery and my journey posted by MG on February 22, 2007 at 14:42:34:
I have a friend who used to be in the Family and has been out for a long time. I knew her in early Family days but wasn't close in TF. A friendship has developed via e-mail and I think that is a positive thing.
Otherwise I know people from posting here but only within the perimeters of this cyber space.
My friends that I know in person are people I have gotten to know since leaving decades ago.
Since leaving, I have had different sets of friends that have come and gone.
I was thirty when I got out so my first set of friends were pretty young. Some were still in college and others were starting careers. My closest friends were gay men who were gorgeous, fun, witty and generous.
I went through a backing off phase of friendships when a number of them became HIV positive and a few were suffering with full blown AIDS and they moved to other states. Others moved because of where their careers took them.
I didn't back up from them because of their HIV but became closer to them than ever but some died. And some went away to relatives or states where there was more support.
That was hard, to see people die that you care about.
Now my friends are few and varied. Some my age, some much older and some younger. None from TF.
But I could understand someone keeping up a relationship with someone still in there Family that they had known and felt close to. Some have done that and helped those people to later leave TF.