Monday Manners: When Other Friendships Have Been Forgot...

It's a bad teen movie cliché to throw around the choice expressions "bros before hos" and "chicks before dicks." That being said, it's absolutely the right mantra to live your life by.

I'm going to skip over the topic I promised last week (I'll get to it next time, I promise) because I've lately noticed an epidemic that should have disappeared after high school: the overthrowing of one's friends for one's boy/girlfriend. That, dear readers, is at the absolute pinnacle of platonic impertinence. I know how it is: you're in a new relationship. You're convinced that the quickest way to forever is by constantly remaining at your new S.O.'s side. The rest of the world be damned, this relationship is going to work. And you start to lose touch with your friends. You don't make plans for Friday night because you might, possibly, have plans with your (wo)man—even if said plans involve watching television and ordering a pizza. Or, you accept the invitation, but "can s/he come with us?" We've seen many a girls' night out end up in smoke because of the presence of a boyfriend or two. And it's just about impossible to play wingman if your girlfriend is there.

If you find yourself in a situation wherein your friends and boy/girlfriend will be together, don't lavish all your attention on your new lover, but don't leave him/her out of the conversation, either. Try to get everyone talking about things they might have in common, or debating things they might not (so long as they keep it civil). Or, if it becomes painfully obvious that a snowball has a better chance in hell than your new partner has in a group of your friends, then don't exacerbate the situation by insisting that everyone commingle. Make time with your friends, and make time with your boy/girlfriend, and ne'er the twain shall meet. (Unless you get married. In which case, they may have to.)

Just remember: relationships can be fleeting. Your friends were there long before your relationship began, and they will be there long after your break-up. Unless your relationship completely alienated them. And then, sadly, you're on your own. And one is the loneliest number, right?

Image from Arizona State's production of Anything Goes, which happens to be the musical that the song "Friendship," whose lyrics appear in the headline above, comes from.