Today I'm going to talk about something that has been bugging me for a while.
Probably since we moved to Fort Benning.
MAKING FRIENDS!!
Seriously, you guys.... it's almost February.
We've been here since the end of September and I am just now meeting people..... just now making friends (or at least I think I am).
I never realized how hard it was to get to know people.
You know who I talk to the most?
The ladies at the local Starbucks!
I adore them. They know my drink order and Maddie's name and that Owen is one. Oh and that Fin goes to school across the street.
I'm not even in there that often.... but there are only 5 of them that work there and they don't get too busy so of course they know me.
There is a guy in there every morning about the same time I am, he talks to them and to me and Maddie.
Other than that, I talk to random people at the commissary. (Grocery store) And usually they're older people because I have Owen and Maddie with me and well... they're just cute!
At first it didn't bother me. I was hesitant to even make friends. If you've been a long time blog follower, you've read about some of the crazy people that I came across while we lived in Alaska so I wasn't super eager to jump into making friends here. I didn't want anything like that to happen all over again.
And I just don't think you can top the friends that I had there.
For some reason moving here has just thrown me off. I don't know if I'm just less social, more introvert-like or what but I'm not as much of a social butterfly as I used to be. I think people have taken a bit of a toll on me. Well, that and I have three crazy children.
When we moved to Alaska, I had an online friend that I met through CafeMom and turned out she lived like a block over so that just worked out wonderfully!!
Then I met wives through David's unit and so on and so on.
I met Rachel through Supper Club-friend of friend of friend type thing. Who knew she'd turn out to be so awesome!
It wasn't difficult to meet people if you let people in.
Before Alaska we were stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
I worked and met people there. (Hi Tifferooni!! We love you!!)
I met one girl from Cafemom and that worked out! We're still friends to this day!
And I had another email me on MySpace back when it was cool insisting that she wasn't a creepy stalker (uh-huh) but wanted to be friends. We actually met face to face when her and her husband picked up David walking down the side of the road.... recognized him from pictures.
And we totally hit it off-still friends to this day. Her husband (at the time) is one of David's best friends today.
But moving to Fort Benning.... I really just don't know if I'm less social or if I just don't really want to put myself out there.
It doesn't help that everyone here that I'd have a chance to talk to just seem so into their routine that if I so much as said "Hi" to them, I think I'd wreck havoc on their day.
Fin's school-all the moms have their mom friends. Some even get there early just to hang out a bit.
They walk together and stand together, etc etc.
Other than that I really just haven't even met people until David started this biker thing he's got going on.
They're family oriented which is pretty amazing!
We had one of their meetings here last weekend (you might remember the tweet about feeding like 25ish people). Well since then, we've gone and played Frisbee golf with them (which by the way is WAY harder than it looks but that's another story for another day). And I took the kids swimming with one of the wives and her kids this past weekend.
David was at one of their meetings and texted me to tell me to text her. She ended up calling me and inviting me. I'm pretty sure I sounded like a moron. (I am terrible at talking on phones. I blame texting. It's killed phone calls for me). I was so grateful for the invite!! Aside from getting the kids out of the house (and myself out of the house) it was so nice to be invited!! Her husband had plans, she planned on taking her kids anyway and thought to invite me! It was so sweet! I think I'm making friends here.
And as excited as I am about it, I'm kind of nervous about it.
And the idea that I'm going to have to just up and leave again in a few years or they'll leave sooner just kills me.
Part of me truly just doesn't even want to bother with making friends just knowing that we'll have to part ways all over again. Moving is ridiculous. It's for the birds.
This has turned into a late night ramble and a mini vent/whine session all rolled into one.
Wouldn't be much of a me post otherwise though, huh?!
But really.... someone just slap me. Tell me to get out there and make friends. Tell me it'll be worth it and good for me.
I'll probably roll my eyes at you but in a few months I'll be thankful that I did once I'm all BFF like with these wives. Hopefully we reach that point anyway and not just the "oh we hang out when our husbands get together" kind of friends. Those work too but I'd like a real genuine friend here, ya know?!
Okay.... I'm going to shut up now.
I hope you all enjoyed my late night ridiculous ramble.
