My Photo Negative

I have a guy friend who recently coined us as "photo negatives" of each other.  This was as a result of me introducing him on karaoke night as my "doppleganger".  I was try to use the definition meaning "someone who acts the same way as another person" (thank you wikipedia.com!).  But it also means "evil twin", so I like his moniker much better.

Perhaps it is because I am a woman who is comfortable with her masculine energy, and he is a man who is comfortable with his feminine energy.  Whatever the reason, we realized not too long after meeting one another three years ago that we had similarities that were almost eerie in nature.  Not just both liking guitar, astrology, and girls - I'm talking about really important things!  Like how we both need to keep lists, or we would go insane. How we organize our music and photos on the computer, down to the way we categorize it.  How we craft our own covers for the CDs we mix for our loved ones.  The challenges we encounter in our relationships.  The way we both struggle with making more time for writing, as much as we love it.  The way we can get so distracted and lose time, but at the same time not feel like we wasted our time at all...

The point of this posting?  I don't care if you are gay, straight, in-between, male, female, 21, 61, even Christian or Atheist.  You never know who you will connect with, and should not close yourself off to any options.  I am so glad that I met my "photo negative" at a time in my life when I was finally no longer trying to conform to society's rules of who I should be spending playtime with.  

For me, going through the frightening yet amazing process of coming out taught me that being authentic is one of the most crucial goals in life.  I notice I seek out others now who have spent time going through an equally difficult process of being Okay with themselves.  I guess that sounds a little snobby, but you really can't go back to living-two-lives, going-against-your-instincts, changing-yourself-for-others once you see what it's like to shed those nasty habits.  You want to surround yourself with others like that, and are able to be truthful and interesting and real in your friendships.  I could only have discovered my commonalities with this guy by being myself, him doing the same, and savoring the feeling of knowing We're Okay...