Re: Mind. Blown.
I've gotta say, one of the best things to happen to a bruised ego (mine) was to show up at a friend's party, have a guy I only see a few times a year introduce me to his girlfriend and practically gush about how highly he thinks of me, and have her look at me and say, "Oh, he's told me lots of stories about you. And they're all good!"
Granted, the booze was flowing pretty freely, so he may have been feeling more generous and effusive than he would normally...but he's also a guy who has no reason to brag me up to anyone. Funniest thing about it, to me, is that the first time I met him, about four years ago, he was going through a rough time (his marriage was going through yet another rough patch on the way to an eventual divorce), and he was kind of bitter and angry about a lot of stuff. At THAT party, he got much too drunk and ended up asking me for a ride home, to which I answered that if I knew where he lived, I'd gladly do it.
His somewhat bitter response was, "Man, I thought every guy here knows where we live..." (because he was convinced, at the time, that his wife was cheating on him). That highly unusual exchange turned into the start of one of the more unusual friendships in my life...
It was good, though. I'd been having a rough time lately, and between the two events I made it to this weekend, and the stuff discussed with friends at those events, I feel a lot more at peace with the world. The problems that caused my doubts and frustrations haven't been solved, by any means...but I feel a lot more capable of dealing with them.