Friends!

I guess I have made it pretty obvious that I have been homesick for LA friends and AZ family. Well, this week we were a bit healthier, so Jonathan and I set out to make friends. now, I am going to tell you an overly dramatized, mostly true with some not as true spice, story of this week's friend finding venture. (it also has some personal stuff, so deal with it) it begins, on Easter. Our family,stepped into the back of the church examining the hoards of people. Somewhere, I thought, amidst this sea of strangers are some of our future friends. I was confident in my ability to be engaging and talk to new people and have people lined up to be friends... at least until it came down to actually having to be engaging, learning names and being confident. After the main sacrament meeting was over, all those confident thoughts went out the window and I went back to wanting to just hide. Jacob and I took Jonathan to primary and even after Jonathan adjusted to the new class, I kept wanting to just stay there with him so I won't have to be with the adults, but Jacob managed to convince me to come to class with him, using his manly charms (its like feminine whiles with more testosterone and less cleavage). Anyways, I just joked and cuddled with him the whole Sunday school, and then I insisted we make sure Jonathan was happy (secretly, hoping I would have to go sit with him, but that boy is amazing and was doing great). Then time came for Relief Society. The only seats open were in the front row. I introduced myself as is tradition and then talked with a nice pregnant women who told me about a music group some mothers did on Wednesday (which was just what I was looking for). Then that was it. Monday and Tuesday I tried to say hi to my neighbors, whenever, I saw them, but mostly just tried to keep the children happy and put away a box when I could. Then came the Wednesday music class. Jonathan was super excited, and I was too. I had woken up feeling I just needed another mom to really talk with, so we arrived 10 mins. early. I kind of felt like the main character in "Mean Girls" when she goes to the Halloween party wearing a scarey witch costume instead of a slutty nurse costume...except everyone was modest and it wasn't really anything like that movie. (because really Hollywood! Normal teenage girls aren't actually like that. At least not the ones I knew... except for the slutty costume thing that's kinda true). My point is, I was a little homesick before the music class, but being there just made my homesickness 10x worse. It was a small group, the set-up wasn't quite as fun for the kids as the LA music maker group, and I just wasn't feeling 'at home.' That being said, Jonathan had a great time and made friends easily. He even stood-up in a gentle manner to some bullying and was hugged by the girl afterwards. (I am so proud of him) Also, there was one mother (a dancer) who did talk to me and I thought she was pretty cool. Despite the nice things, however, I left trying not to get teary in front of anyone. My imagined goal of instantly having a best friend did not come true. I was very close to buying a ticket to Phoenix, if it didn't cost so much. but then, like a little spark of light in my spirit, I remembered this super nice girl who had managed an apartment we looked at (who was a friend of a friend I had had in high school and a little in college that happened to also have moved up here). She had a daughter just younger than Jonathan who had acted like best friends as soon as they saw each other and a son a few months older than Claire. She had seemed really awesome when we meet with her to see the apartment, so I decided to text her. It wasn't an hour latter she texted me back and we set up a play date for the next day. ---Gaw this is getting long--- ---okay now the shorter version--- Thursday: Play-date went awesome! it was like our kids had always been friends and there was no awkwardness at all, even down to similar parenting styles. That afternoon, we were coloring with chalk in front of the house when my neighbor invited us over for coffee and a play-date for the kids on saturday. Homesickness abated. Friday: I tried the wards 'parkday' and it was :-/, but I realized that although I don't quiet fit in, that might be a good thing. Also, friendships take time, so of course I didn't have a friend in this group yet, and Jonathan had a good time... except some girls did try to boss him around again, but he didn't pay attention to them :-P Saturday: Neighbor turns out to be from Germany and works as a translator! She also made awesome cake and they have a beautiful backyard. Our husbands got along. Jonathan was rather tired and not that interested in playing with their girl, but had fun non the less. they were super great. So now, that's the story of how we started to make friends.