Friends versus acquaintances
In my struggles with Omaha, people keep telling me about how I need to make friends. I laugh because people who know me here know that I have a bunch of really great women friends, and Neal and I have a bunch of great couple friends. We are very fortunate to spend time with these wonderful folks and I value every dinner, every birthday party and every golf game we have. The friends that I’ve made here will be lifelong friends and I can imagine calling them some day telling then that Sophie’s getting married, or Maggie’s going to have a baby….. exciting stuff, but please Lord, only let me have news like that to share after my girls each have a master’s degree and a good job!
What I am really missing are friendly acquaintances. In Boston I probably had 6 or 8 good mommy friends (that doesn’t include my wonderful pre-kid friends, who are like gold in my mind as well). These mommy friends were people I meet after Sophie came along and the women with whom the girls and I spent time every day. This community took care of Sophie when Maggie was born, and we all took care of the oldest kids when their second babies came; we brought meals, and support whenever it was needed. You know who you are, and I love you!
That leads me to my friendly acquaintances in Boston. These were women that I really liked, but just never got to know better because of timing, or schedules, or other aspects of life getting in the way. I know that if I had stayed in the city, and if they had, then I would have had the pleasure of getting to know these ladies better but for the three years I lived there, they were people I’d see in the grocery store or hang out with at the park. That’s what I am missing in Omaha…. Friendly acquaintances… nice people who are out and about with whom to chat and hang out while our kids play together. I was thinking that I would find those kinds of people living in an upscale country club neighborhood, but I sure have been wrong. Every time I meet someone new, I hear about how they work full time, or their kid is in all kinds of organized sports, or busy playing video games, or just likes to keep to themselves. No one goes outside and just plays, or walks, or hangs out. That just seems to be the Nebraska mentality… much more insular which creates a huge and stifling void for me!
In my struggles with Omaha, people keep telling me about how I need to make friends. I laugh because people who know me here know that I have a bunch of really great women friends, and Neal and I have a bunch of great couple friends. We are very fortunate to spend time with these wonderful folks and I value every dinner, every birthday party and every golf game we have. The friends that I’ve made here will be lifelong friends and I can imagine calling them some day telling then that Sophie’s getting married, or Maggie’s going to have a baby….. exciting stuff, but please Lord, only let me have news like that to share after my girls each have a master’s degree and a good job!
What I am really missing are friendly acquaintances. In Boston I probably had 6 or 8 good mommy friends (that doesn’t include my wonderful pre-kid friends, who are like gold in my mind as well). These mommy friends were people I meet after Sophie came along and the women with whom the girls and I spent time every day. This community took care of Sophie when Maggie was born, and we all took care of the oldest kids when their second babies came; we brought meals, and support whenever it was needed. You know who you are, and I love you!
That leads me to my friendly acquaintances in Boston. These were women that I really liked, but just never got to know better because of timing, or schedules, or other aspects of life getting in the way. I know that if I had stayed in the city, and if they had, then I would have had the pleasure of getting to know these ladies better but for the three years I lived there, they were people I’d see in the grocery store or hang out with at the park. That’s what I am missing in Omaha…. Friendly acquaintances… nice people who are out and about with whom to chat and hang out while our kids play together. I was thinking that I would find those kinds of people living in an upscale country club neighborhood, but I sure have been wrong. Every time I meet someone new, I hear about how they work full time, or their kid is in all kinds of organized sports, or busy playing video games, or just likes to keep to themselves. No one goes outside and just plays, or walks, or hangs out. That just seems to be the Nebraska mentality… much more insular which creates a huge and stifling void for me!
posted by Betsy Paquelet Patrick at 12:27 PM
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