My dad and younger brother were bipolar and I’ve had several friends who were, diagnosed and undiagnosed. My good friend Domino was diagnosed 4 years ago, something I suspected long before she did.  I’ve known her for 30 years, and know her family as well.  Her mom was diagnosed years before.  Like I wrote in Is Bipolar The Root Of Genius? , I find myself missing her manic upswings, her wild ideas, her inspirations and musings.  Her hare-brained schemes.  But while they may have been simply grandiose babblings from a clinically manic state, to my ear they sounded like messages of inspiration.  They sparked ideas which often evolved into projects that earned both of us income.  When I look back, after Domino was first diagnosed as bi-polar several years ago, and think of all the ideas for projects that never materialized, I still can’t see that as being grandiose – one man’s absurd exaggeration is another mans’ actual life.  During the same time frame, I think of all the ideas for projects I have left undone.  It’s about the same, so you can’t blame it on bi-polar.  Part of the fun we have together is chatting about what might be possible to achieve between the two of us.  I don’t think of that as grandiose, I think of it as enthused pre-paving.  So when she’s quiet and mellow, we don’t do that.  I miss it in her and I miss the reaction it brings out in me. So I’ll just have to bring it out of myself and get with friends that bring it out of me.
Will you be my friend?
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