You know, I went to D.C. for the Cherry Blossom Parade on Saturday, and had a fantastic time with my daughter and good friend.

There were so many blessings of the day, but I just had to make note of one of the sweetest blessings, and that is the woman with whom I spent the day and my daughter calls “Aunt B”. Sometimes in dealing with relational aggression it’s easy to lose sight of what’s right with women’s relationships and fake friendships cast a cloud over acknowledging real friendships.

Last night I was pretty pissed when it came to light a “cute” little trick that had been played on me a while back. Sometimes it takes a while for the pieces of a puzzle to fall in place, and then all of a sudden you see a larger picture - one that is not so nice. I did not know Girl A was friends with Girl B, and that several afternoons of conversation was really a reconnaissance mission on the part of Girl A for her friend.

What really got me was seeing this young woman’s sweet smile and her high girlish voice, as she spoke to me, asking me questions, drawing out information. And then thinking about her friend who likes to portray a kind of “country girl” naivete’, when she is not. What a pair!

But before I went to bed, I slowed my thoughts and let them settle on someone who has no guile in her heart, and I let myself think about how fortunate I was to have her as a friend. Then I thought about other friends of mine who are, also, good and true friends, and the trickery of these two began to look more and more like the foolishness of another and less and less like mine.

I’m not foolish for taking someone on face value. Though I shared more than I would have now, I did stop myself. I picked up on some cues and listened to the feeling that something wasn’t right, so I made it a point to keep all conversations general after that, and kept my mouth shut about my personal life.

It’s very important to develop a trust with your own self, to heed the warnings you give yourself. It enables you to make better choices in trusting others - and knowing when not to trust others.

And it’s, also, important to keep your perspective on things. A few bad apples are just that - a few bad apples. Not the whole tree. It was good for me to see the truth. I’m more empowered to take care of myself, especially around those people. But it’s good for me to see the truth about what’s right and what I have to feel grateful for.

Just because some people need to get a life, doesn’t mean I have to throw away mine.

So I think about my trip to D.C. and the wonderful companionship and the great time we had, and my faith in women is reaffirmed. These are but a few of what’s right in my life.

I can handle the rest.