On Friends and Shopping

Someone said to me recently that they think it's a little weird that almost everything my son has or that I use these days has a story attached to it starting with "my friend."
Sometimes it's "my friend passed this on to him from her kid," and sometimes it's "my friend recommended it, and she was so right," and even more often, it's "my friend made this, she has a rad {Etsy or Artfire} shop, do you want the URL?"

For instance, JabberWalky's Magic Blankie by my friend Amber.

His new Friend Rory, who came recommended by Amber. (Apparently that's his favorite sleeping position)

My diaperbag of raditude by my friend Brooke.

His radtastic diapers by my friend Laura and his Monster block of doom by my friend Ailie.

His super rad dipes by my friend Vilate

and then diapers my friend Christine made.

Ooh, and the ones my friend Ilana's company makes.

And the nursing pads my friend Candace made.

And many many others.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized, I prefer supporting friends when I have money to spend, rather than supporting mega-corps. I'll buy from a friend before buying local, unless local is a friend.
It might not be the best of economics in the world, but I feel better about the products when I have a personal connection with the person who made them.

I think of it as putting some humanity into impersonal business transactions, and so far, I've always been happy with these transactions, because lets face it, if they're your friend, they're probably not going to sell their friend something they know isn't good or safe.