New Friendship Update

Not long ago I wrote about the potential for a friendship to develop with our new neighbors. Since then things have progressed and I wanted to quickly update all of you. Call it over zealous, call it silly, call it over sharing - whatever, it's probably all true.

You see, I haven't had a friend nearby since we left Minnesota at the end of 2006. Partly because we've been moving around so much but mostly because making new friends as an adult living with debilitating, frequently misunderstood chronic pain conditions is really hard. Honestly, I was beginning to believe it wouldn't happen unless or until I was able to get my migraines and fibromyalgia under better control. You can imagine how badly I want this.

Filled with excitement over the possibility, nerves about not messing things up, anxiety about building a friendship for the first time in a decade and with the awareness that hubby and I are maybe a little odd I keep imagining this will turn into a sitcom story-line. You know how it goes. The main character(s) meet somebody new and they hit it off right away but they end up trying too hard or being too weird and things fall apart for our amusement. Remember when Grace befriended Molly Shannon's character on Will and Grace? 

I guess this hasn't been a quick update. Let me get back to the point.

We continue to run into each other - exchanging misdelivered mail and getting drawn into long exchanges. The woman and I have been texting each other about paint colors and other small topics we discuss on our run-ins. We've talked about finding an evening to enjoy a firepit together but weather and my head has prevented that from happening yet. Then earlier this week they invited us over to meet their daughter, who has been studying abroad and just joined them. We put on our nice casual attire and walked over for what we promised ourselves would be a short visit. After two hours of great conversation and fun we headed home. 

Then came the analysis. Did we stay too long - or too late into the evening? Did we make a good impression? Do we think they really like us? Are we still thinking we can have a good friendship with these people? Let's say something so they know we didn't mean to overstay our welcome next time we chat...

The next day I got a nice great-to-see-you, thanks-for-coming-over text from her. So I went ahead and sent a thanks-we-had-a-great-time, hope-we-didn't-stay-too-long response. She replied with her own worry that they were not great hosts as they hadn't offered us anything to drink. 

I guess we're all a little nervous about making good impressions. What a relief.