Last night my friend Katie and her parents stopped by to take us out to dinner on their way to the beach. It was so sweet of them to take the time and go out of their way to come see us. I definitely cried as I hugged Katie goodbye. It got me thinking about friendship. It's something I seem to be thinking about a lot lately, maybe because I left some amazing friends behind and am getting out there and making new connections here. What I've come up with is that true friends remain true friends no matter the distance. My best friend and I have moved countless times (college-army-marriage etc.) and still stay in touch and make time to see each other. I'm learning that things can't stay the same, no matter how much I'd like them too. I'd love for Dave and my move down here not to change anything but it does. And try as I might to get people to uproot their lives and move here too, I may just have to be satisfied with my parents relocation (for now-I'm gonna work on your guys!).
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| {etsy shop} |
Friendship is a two way street. Meaning you call me, I'll call you...let's both initiate hanging out from time to time-it shouldn't always be me trying.
If we don't click the first couple of time, let's move on. I'm not into wasting your time or mine.
I want to be friends with people that make me feel comfortable. I'm not into clubbing and if you make me feel judged because I don't rage on Friday nights, no thanks. You like game night? Hello!
I wouldn't say I'm the queen of making friends but I've had my fair share of moves (army brat remember) so it comes pretty easily for me. I have no problem asking a girl to grab coffee or meet up for lunch. The worst they can say is no. It's harder to make friends when you don't have work or school to interact with new people though. For me at least with this move I've found that meeting people through other friends is helpful even if the friends aren't in the area. I recently had coffee with a girl my friend Brittney got me in touch with. Britt lives all the way in California but knew a girl stationed here with her hubby-so we emailed and met up for coffee. She was sweet and I think we'll hang out again. My sister's last roommate from China lives here as well so we've met up too. From blogging I met a new friend as well. I read she lived in the area and decided to email and see if she wanted to meet up-the worst she could do was think I was creepy and ignore the email. Luckily she was relatively new to the area too and I now have a sweet new friend in Kristyn (come back already!). Meetup groups are another good way to get involved. I haven't attended a get together yet but hopefully will in the near future.
Any tips on meeting new friends?
I'll leave you with this quote from C.S Lewis because it's so true, we can survive without friendship, it's really not needed but for me it's what brings some fulfillment to my life.
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
You go girl!! That's awesome that you have been able to meet up with people since you've been there! I have been struggling so hard in this area (the area of making/finding friends)! Our town is small, and it's an older town, we don't live on base (there isn't even one close by - 8 hours away is the closest), so while there are some things to do in town, they aren't quite things that are easy to find friends at. Most of the people that Derek works with are quite a bit older than us, and are interested in different things... We haven't found a church yet... And to add to all of that, I'm shy! I too have made a little list of guidelines for myself. I have joked with my sister in law that I should take out an add on Craigslist and post my guidelines there looking for a friend. She also suggested maybe seeing if there are any classes at a local craft store or the closest michael's or joann's and perhaps I could meet someone there. :)
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