Friends of Friends

It has been said that often when you marry someone, you marry their friends and family.

The same can be true for friendships.

Inevitably you are going to meet your friends' other friends at some stage.  Sometimes this is fine.  Sometimes this is very uncomfortable.

Mostly I've got along with my friends' friends quite well.  But sometimes I've been left wondering just what my friend sees in them.  I've been to friends' birthday parties where I've TRIED to be friendly to their other friends, only to be looked at like I was a vile slug needing to be squished.  This is usually among really glamorous, trendy people, who I would never fit in with in a million years.  They've looked at me like they were wondering why our mutual friend was friends with someone like me.

I quite enjoy catching up with friends of friends at our mutual friend's birthday or whatever.  While I've never actually struck up a firm friendship with them where I would see them individually, it has been nice to chat to them.

The hard side is watching from the sidelines while my friend's friends lead them astray.  I've wanted to say something, to tell them that their wonderful new friend is not a great influence on them.  It's horrible watching friends with strong convictions suddenly being negatively influenced to drink too much, stop going to church, see a non-Christian guy, be influenced by worldliness and materialism because of a new friend who has come into their life.

Have you become good friends with a friend of a friend?