We all need friendships with people of the same gender and the opposite. We all need friends who are OSA, SSA, or anywhere else on the sexuality spectrum.
As I reflect on this new friendship, I begin to overanalyze. Have I replaced one best friend with another?
I had destroyed our friendship by my unhealthy emotional dependence and demands for exclusive affection. He understandably ended our friendship.
I love sports and competition. I love the push, the struggle, the fight toward victory. I love how my chest burns when I'm on the brink of exhaustion.
I bought a house. I'm officially living IN the city! I've had a roommate since day one. He's a great friend and brother in Christ.
Today, Your Other Brothers turns 1 year old! Shh, nobody tell YOB about the puberty years. We've still got at least another decade to stifle that awkward conversation. But seriously, what a year it's been since our first post. We've laughed, we've cried, we've started a podcast, we've launched a Patreon community, and we're still just getting started.
I absolutely refuse to fall into codependency again — especially with a coworker. With whom I share an office. It would have been a terrible situation.
We were always careful to keep appropriate, healthy boundaries even though we knew we were not sexually attracted to each other. I think we were just cautious of others gossiping if we appeared to be too close. Unfortunately, churches like ours are especially prone to gossip about SSA guys.
It is very desirable and even possible for me to have a decades-long friendship with a straight guy...even though he is married and I am not.
I didn't belong here. An odd realization to make. YOB is for the outcast. A place for those who feel they don't belong. It's a community for the outcasts.