"Do not put all eggs in one basket"

One of the most meaningful memories I have from my childhood is a story my parents used to tell me and my sister. I no longer remember the story, but I do remember the moral at the end of the story: "Do not put all eggs in one basket". The saying is well known in the investment world, where it recommends to diversify, rather than to invest everything in one single business. This saying can however be applied in more areas than just in economics.
It is remarkable how stories, morals and learnings from our childhood do influence our behaviour as grown ups, and I must conclude people like Esopo have played a role in shaping my behaviour and beliefs to what they are now.
Given the fact that I have lived in 5 different cities, I have good friends spread in over 3 countries. I also have colleagues, and buddies, and needless to say, friends are the smallest- and most precious- group of the three groups.
All of those whom I consider friends are persons I trust and support blindly, and for whom I would do anything when they need me: Friends are the chosen family, and in my eyes and opinion, they deserve as much respect, love, and dedication as the assigned (by blood) family. (In some cases friends might deserve more than family, but that is a completely different topic).
It might read strange, or funny, or simply weird, but, regardless of my blind trust in my friends, there is not one who can tell my entire story, who can put the entire picture, together by him or herself. Non-consciously, I am applying the moral from my parents' story in my daily life.
Throught my life I have made friends in different places, countries and even continents, and it is this geographic spread of my friends, and the fact that I have met them at different stages of my life, what provides me my safest tool to protect my "eggs". Two of my friends here in Germany/Europe, if together and with the purpose in mind of getting the picture together, could normally put together up to 80% of it, but in order to get the remaining 20% they would need to contact one of my friends living in Colombia or in the US. Certain parts of my story are only known to my oldest friends, and I take care of not mentioning it to anybody else.
I don't seem to dare putting all my "eggs" in one single basket, not even with the people I would do anything for, and this fact makes me wonder if this "lack" of courage is one of the factors that encourages me to run away from getting into a relationship, and to be distant, and sometimes mean, to the people I meet on the way, who could make good friends or even more based on their personality. It is not a secret that a relationship needs to be based in trust in order to succeed, requires to put all "eggs" into one basket, and to work to keep them all in the basket and safe.

Munich-Cologne-LH1994, February 25th, 2011