Moving on

I miss my friends. I'm just going to put that out there. I love it here, I really do. I love having my sister just down the road and a wonderful nephew to babysit and love that my kids have an aunt and uncle and cousin that they just adore. But I still miss my friends. They were my family when our families were dotted across the country. It would be easy to wish that I could just go back to NC but that wouldn't even solve the problem because a good majority were military as well and have moved on. In fact, Washington state and South Korea are closer than NC but that still doesn't really increase my chances of seeing them.

I have met some wonderful people here that I am excited to get to know better and I am making an effort to start new friendships, but it is harder when you are older. You can't just ask the girl in moms group to play with you like you did when you were kids. It takes a little more finesse and effort now. I miss the ease of old relationships that are comfortable like an old couch. I miss the comfortable silence that doesn't have to be filled with small talk. I miss commiserating about the stupid things our husbands have done but all knowing that we still all love our husbands more than anything and we just wanted to vent a little. And I really miss girls' nights out, though they never lasted long enough. I miss the way we were all so different but we found the common bond of motherhood and marriage to join us. I miss the way we took care of each others' kids when the other needed a break. I miss the way we took care of each other when life took some crazy turns.

I miss my friends, however I am optimistic about the future. I look forward to making new friendships that will morph into old friendships where we can have comfortable silences, commiserate about our husbands, have girls' nights out, take care of each others' kids, and most importantly, take care of each other.