As I progress along life’s twisty-turny road, I appreciate my friends more and more. And while I don’t count their number the way I likely did when I was a kid, I am aware of having more friends than I probably deserve. This comes as somewhat of a surprise to me. You see – I’ve always been a gal who separated my friends from acquaintances. Naturally – acquaintances outnumber friends. But aging is helping me to see that I have far more friends than I once thought. Real friends. People I’d take calls from at 3 in the morning. People I could call if I needed.
When we were kids, making friends was easy (for most of us). We were bound by our school schedules, or our extracurricular activities. Unpopular? No problem. We’d just buddy-up to other dorks on the math team or in the a/v club. As long as we were reasonably competent in our childish social skills, we could usually find a friend or two. It just sort of worked out.
Getting older, however, seems to stifle the friend-making process. Maybe it’s because we spend more of our time in cubicles than in clubs. And at the end of a work day, or on the weekend, we often want nothing more than to be at home. We seek calm and quiet, not fun and frivolity. It happens.
But once in a while something comes up in life that requires us to break free of our comfortable cocoons and actually interact with other human beings. For me, one such opportunity has been Rock & Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles. The volunteers within this organization are stellar souls. Of course I want to be friends with them! This has meant battling my self-doubt and stepping outside my comfort zone, but I’ve done it. And you know what’s happened? I’ve made new friends. New, wonderful friends. When I think about this, I am genuinely surprised. Grateful, yes, and also surprised.
I guess I’ve gone down this particular rabbit-hole of thought because of the above photo. One of my Rock Camp buddies has returned to Los Angeles after living in London for a while. Betro (Rock Camp buddy extraordinaire) came up with the brilliant idea of jazzing up the home of our returning friend, to welcome her back. So we made a banner (shown above) and got her some tacos for her fridge, so that she could come home, eat and crash. All because we care. All because we appreciate our friend.
In all likelihood, I will never be a gal with more friends than I can count. My reclusive tendencies will see to that. But I am blessed to have beautiful, dear friends in my life. Friends who care. Friends who laugh. Friends who check in on me when I’m not feeling my best. Friends who invite me for coffee. Friends who invite me to game night. Friends who will watch a documentary and cry with me after. Friends who are good just hanging out and doing nothing at all. Honestly – I don’t know how I got so lucky.