We all need friends

Nearly ten years ago, our family moved from Maryland to New Hampshire. The greater Baltimore-Washington corridor was crowed and expense, particularly when it came to real estate. Crime was also a consideration. Then, there were the summers. While neither of us is a huge fan of cold snowy winters, my husband and I both despised hot humid summers. While the job market was pretty good (at the time), the most affordable places to live were at least a highly stressful hour's commute from most of the jobs.

So, off we moved to New Hampshire. Within a month we both had good jobs within 30 minutes of our rented townhouse. And the commutes were relatively low stress. In less than a year we'd found a great house with a huge yard that we could afford, without taking on significantly worse commutes. (We actually shifted. Goblin lessened his commute by 20 minutes, and I increased mine by 20 minutes. Though I was still within 30 minutes of work.)

A few years later we sold that house and moved to a somewhat smaller one for financial reasons. I then changed jobs and sucked up a longer commute. While more stressful, the current commute is still better than the average commute I had while living outside of Washington.

I regret very little about that migration. However, I do miss my friends from the mid Atlantic. We have made a few friends in New England, but we really don't socialize very often. Our friends from church are closer to the first house we had, twenty minutes to the north of our current house. Plus, Goblin's schedule has gotten pretty erratic with school and per diem work this year.

Since I'm really the gregarious one in our family, I decided to do something to improve my social life. I recently started browsing the various local Meetup groups in my area that might be of interest to me. I have already attended a meetup with some women who are interested in meditation and another with some folks interested in pottery. The later one inspired me to sign up for a one-day pottery class (that may lead to more classes). I'm considering attending a few other meetups as well.

I don't know if I'll make any 'good' friends as a result of my meetup activities, but it will be fun and help get me out of the house. I've been sitting around sulking about a few unfortunate events in our lives, of late. And, it's just not productive to dwell on things that you can't do anything about.

I may also just have to plan a trip down to Baltimore in the next few months. I really do miss a few people. We connect on Facebook, but it would be much better if I could spend the weekend with some of them, drinking, eating and laughing.

Finances are pretty tight, and I already have some other trips planned, so time is also a bit tight. But, maybe I can figure out a way. I do miss my friends.

Friends - Band of Skulls