Wanna be my Friend?

“The loneliest woman in the world is the woman without a close woman friend”
-Toni Morrison

It used to be that easy. When I was little, every time I went to the swimming pool, I would come home with a new friend. And the conversation simply began with “Do you want to be my friend?”

Lately I’ve wanted to ask everyone this. The girl behind me in line at the Social Security office, the young mom who is new at church, the bloggers who I read about daily, the girls I overheard in the burrito place.

Through high school I only had one best friend—lots of friends to hang out with at lunch and in class, but really only one that I shared secrets with. And, even by my senior year I had distanced myself from most of them. I still sat with them at lunch, but I had little in common with them. And even though I was the one who left home for school, my best friend was the one who changed and left me behind.

I went off to college 600 miles away, and quickly became friends with three boys from my hometown. I was rooming with two sorority girls who were nice enough (we actually roomed together the next year), but I just simply wasn’t in their crowd—and didn’t really want to be.

I met Rob during the first semester of my freshman year, so my social activities from then on out were wrapped up with him and his friends. His friends became my friends, but still they were boys.

I struggled to find a close girlfriend. Rob encouraged me, my mom encouraged me, but it seemed everybody had already chosen best friends, and I had missed out.

My last year of college brought some relief—I became close to Ashley from my design classes and Hillary, Rob’s roommate’s girlfriend—both were bridesmaids in my wedding, in fact. But, life is having its way with me again. Ashley moved to North Carolina a few months ago, and Hillary is busy finishing school. They are still good friends, but not around quite as much as they used to be.

I need someone to girl talk with, someone to watch chick flicks watch, someone to craft with, someone to go shopping with. So the position is open, wanna be my friend?