Happy Camper...

I'm a happy camper tonight. Ask me why. What's that? Oh, well, thank you for asking! Let me tell you...

I made a friend!

OK, so that made me sound a little pitiful, didn't it? I generally don't find it difficult to make friends but I have to admit, since moving back to Pigsknuckle, it hasn't been a piece of cake. I don't know why, really. I guess maybe, because I work from home and spend most of my spare time with Ryan, I haven't exactly put myself in places where potential new friends are abundant. And I never really feel like I completely fit in when I do meet people here. I dunno.

Anyway... about tonight... here's a bit of back story...

I don't know if I told you guys this, but Ryan's switching schools this fall. She's moving from the county system to the Pigsknuckle city system and that means middle school (in the 5th grade!). I'm more nervous about it than she is. She's leaving all her friends behind but we figured she would meet some kids on the swim team who will be going to her school. It's turned out, though, that most of them are at the other middle school in town or in private schools. Frustrating. Then, last night, one of the swim moms told me that a new family had just joined and they have a daughter Ryan's age... who would be going to her middle school! I was so excited! So I introduced myself to the mom and we chatted for a bit. Then tonight, at the swim meet, we introduced the girls and they totally hit it off. They have all kinds of things in common, interest and personality-wise, and though they both normally take a while to warm up to new people, they were hanging out within minutes!

It was fabulous!

So the mom and dad and I sat together and talked all. night. long. Turns out they grew up here, too, and moved away a long time ago, just like I did. They just moved back last week. We went to the same high school (and I graduated with the dad's older brother). They're both very liberal-minded, funny, and so easy to talk to. The mom mentioned this group, Girls on the Run (a running club for girls from 8-15)... I said I looked into starting a branch here but I couldn't find any other moms interested enough to help me with the really in-depth non-profit stuff... she said she'd been involved in their old town for the past couple of years and she is going to start one up here. I actually squealed! I will be helping with that!

So we have loads in common, we talked non-stop for hours, we live less than a mile from each other, and our kids like each other. How cool is that?!

I made a new friend. And I'm a happy camper! :)