Friends

Socially I am a bit out of my depth.  I have never really been comfortable trying to develop relationships with new people.  Maybe that's because I have been 'knocked back' so many times, maybe I really am just THAT boring, or maybe I am at times completely oblivious to social nuances.  Whatever it is, putting myself out there is never really high on my list of 'must do'.  I am trying to be better for the boys, so they hopefully won't be nearly as socially inept as I can sometimes be, but I still feel sometimes like I'd rather be doing almost anything else.

My motto has always been quality over quantity, but sometimes quantity AND quality together might be nice.  I take a while to 'warm up', as most people who know me fairly well will probably attest to.  I like to pretend that I am an extrovert, but really I think I am an introvert play acting at being extroverted; sometimes this is easier to do than others.  When I do take the time and the effort, it can be very rewarding, and sanity saving.

My on-line 'friendships' haven't always translated to real life...though there are still heaps of people I currently consider friends who I haven't ever actually met, yet, who I feel I'd still consider friends once I'd met them.  Nearly 4 years ago, I met a wonderful person.  We started out, as most online relationships do, over similar interests; in this case parenting.  Even better, we lived in the same part of the country.  We decided to step out of cyberspace and actually meet each other, which at the time, I'll admit terrified me a bit.  However, after having been in NZ about 2 years at this stage, I was socially isolated so thought "what the hell, what's the worst thing that could happen?"  It turned into something that I still treasure to this day, and though my antenatal group has fallen apart, this person who I'd never met is still 'hanging in'. Our boys play together, and we catch up fairly often, which has been easier now we actually only live a few city blocks from each other.  We hit the supermarket together almost every week, leaving the small humans with their dads, and we're there to step in when necessary..even if it's just someone to whinge to.

So thank you Jaki, for continuing to be a presence in my sometimes insane world, and even if we end up not living so close to each other in the future, I have no doubt that we'll always stay in touch.