You will always have friends.......

Sometimes I wonder why my partner and I are still together.  Our belief system are so different.  He believes in using umbrellas and I don't.   He also believes in wearing toques in the winter and I don't.  He believes in serving a hamburger on a plate and I believe a hamburger should be served on a paper towel.  I also believe that for hot  dogs, but, get this, he doesn't believe in hot dogs.  Not how they should be served, but he actually doesn't believe in their existence.  He is a like a hot dog denier.  I can actually eat a hot dog in front of him yet, he still denies their existence. Like I said, our belief systems are different.

He also believes in the real football also known as soccer.  It is not that I don't believe it exists, I know it does.  I just don't believe in watching it as I prefer a sport in which something actually happens.  His favorite team is Liverpool.  I am hoping someday that changes to Valour.  If you ever have insomnia, I strongly recommend you contact him and ask why Liverpool is his favorite team.  If you need to serve two hours of community service, I would suggest you ask him about the two games he attended at Anfield.  That story takes a minimum of two hours to tell, but, I have heard it a few times and it felt like the longest 24 hours in my life. 

As an avid Liverpool fan, he has a selection of shirts, a tie, and a winter scarf.  He is a walking advertisement year round.  But, here's the thing.  It seems I am in the minority.  This soccer is a big deal. 

If he is wearing a Liverpool shirt, men stop him and they chat.  Most of these are young men that at first glance he would have nothing in common.  Yet, there they are talking for 20 minutes.  He met a young guy who is a bartender at a local establishment that he visited, and now they are legitimate friends and even socialize together.  One day, I was waiting impatiently in line at the liquor store and wondered why the line wasn't moving.  Believe it or not, it was my partner talking to the cashier about Liverpool.  (It was our anniversary and we both were buying a last minute gift.)  Today, we were grocery shopping and we were stopped by an elderly man.  We thought he might need our assistance but it turned out, he wanted to talk about Liverpool.  They are really everywhere.  He has even been approached by young attractive women and has been a little disappointed that they weren't hitting on him and only wanted to talk about Liverpool. 

The world has become a scary place in many ways.  We used to talk each other.  Now, we are afraid to offend one another.  We are afraid to disagree.  We do most of our communicating on social media platforms.  We would rather text than call someone.  It hasn't seemed to help us connect as human beings.  People say it is easy to make friends when you are children but it becomes harder as we are adults.   Yet, my guy seems to have no issues when making friends.  It turns out people actually do want to talk to each other, they just need a reason. 

It probably doesn't have to be a Liverpool shirt.  For example, when you are having a vacay in the USA, you probably talk to anyone you see wearing a Blue Bomber jersey.  Yes, it is easy to talk to someone when you have an icebreaker.  But, I'm going to tell you a secret.  Talking to a stranger and potentially making a new friend can be done without any pretense.  You can actually take a risk and put yourself out there.  Just try talking to people. 

That's my personal theme for the year.  I am just scattering seeds.  And, I like some things that are growing. 

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