“There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met.”
William Butler Yeats
My son asked me the other day when the last time was that I made a new friend. It might seem like a weird question but in his 15 year old mind, he’s probably curious about how old people like his mother manage to meet people without the help of SnapChat.
I explained that, as he can relate to, COVID has kind of put on a damper on being able to see friends, let alone make new ones. And while not being able to see their friends was hard on kids at the beginning of all this, they likely still felt connected through social media and may not have felt the absence of people quite as much.
I’m an introverted extrovert. I can be super outgoing, I can make small talk with just about anyone and I enjoy being around people. Usually. There are also times when I like to be on my own, read a good book and just stay in. Since COVID has provided tons of opportunities for the latter part, I’ve really been missing the former. And the “I’m Still Fun” category of my blog is a little light on content. But that was about to change 🙂
We’ve lived in our house for 16 years. Since that time, there hasn’t been a lot of turnover in our neighbours and the median age of people on our street is probably around 65. I’ve often envied our friends who live in new subdivisions where their neighbours are all around the same age, their kids are all around the same age and they do fun stuff like block parties and joint garage sales. We talk to all of our neighbours and we help each other out whenever needed. But we aren’t getting together for backyard drinks and if we did, it would be for tea. At 2pm. On a Wednesday.
A couple of months ago, we got new neighbours right next door. We were so excited when we heard little kids playing in the backyard. At first our interactions were limited to throwing a ball back over the fence when it would come sailing over. Then we met them face to face when they were taking their new puppy for a walk.
It’s been nice to see them in passing and fill them in on the neighbourhood news (not there is a lot of tea to be spilled about that since it’s pretty quiet around here). I shared with my best friend that before summer was over, it was my mission to hang out with our new neighbours. And then the other night, it happened!!
I was sitting outside on my deck like I do most nights. I was listening to music, scrolling on my phone when I heard, “Hey, Melissa. We are having some drinks and a fire with friends. Wanna come over?” Ummm does a bear shit in the woods?! Heck ya I do!
I changed my clothes, packed some drinks in my cooler bag and made the short trip across the front lawn. We had some drinks by the fire, played some cornhole (terrible name for a game btw), listened to music and rapped Baby Got Back until 2:30 in the morning. On a Tuesday. And that is apparently how you make new friends at 45 🙂 As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, it was one of those random unexpected nights that ended up being so much fun. We promised to get together again soon and wondered why it took so long for us to connect.
We also hatched a plan together to befriend our rear neighbours because, from what we can hear, they seem like they are around our age and they spend a lot of time laughing and listening to music in their backyard, too. That and they have an outdoor movie projector so between 1 neighbour’s fire pit and puppy, our pool and the other neighbour’s movie projector, that sounds like a pretty fun group 🙂
Before I headed over to my new friends’ house, I made a pit stop in my son’s room to remind him of the question he had asked me a few days earlier. I told him that my answer to his question about the last time I made a new friend was today – a random Tuesday that turned into just one of those nights. It made for a bit of a rough Wednesday morning, but it was well worth it. And all without the help of SnapChat 🙂
