New Friendships

Have you ever noticed over the years the people who you once considered your closest friends sometimes grow farther and farther away? Not physically, but your connection just dwindles for whatever reason.

Sometimes it’s to do with your lives becoming different, kids definitely do that. You find out who your real friends are once you have kids, I’ve heard that before. I don’t necessarily believe that’s true. I was friends with certain people at one point in my life when we had things in common. Sometimes friends without kids or those struggling to conceive have a hard time relating. And you know what? That’s ok.

But one thing I never expected to happen was to gain some new great friends as I got older. I was always under the assumption that as we got older we had quality of friends over quantity.

I’ve come to realize that this isn’t the case. Quality yes, but sometimes the quantity does in fact increase.

I had a funny thing happen to me recently while at a local indoor playground with the kiddos. I was sitting there having my coffee while the kids played and I noticed they started playing with a cute little blonde boy.  They weren’t yelling or fighting, in fact they were playing and sharing quite nicely with him. This wasn’t the strange part. They get along with other kids, it just depends on the situation and environment. The unexpected thing happened next.

Usually when I go to these places I see other moms and parents, give a nice smile, make some small talk and go on with my day. This time, the little boy’s mom and I started chatting, we had a lot in common and really seemed to get along. The play time ended and we said our goodbyes as per usual, but then it happened. She came back up to me (and I’m so glad that she did) and she said “I hope you don’t think this is weird, but here’s my number. The kids seem to get along and so do we, so if you ever want another play date let me know.”

I was surprised, but in the best way. I hadn’t gotten a ‘number’ in a very long time lol. And this was one that I would definitely be contacting.

Since then we’ve had a number of play dates and have become friends, all because she had more nerve than I did and gave me her number.

Another new friendship that I’ve gained is with my neighbour. Her oldest daughter is just a few months younger than our girls. We’ve always been ‘neighbourly’ but never very close. Until this summer. She’s off on maternity leave and I’m home with the kiddos so we started having play dates. The girls all get along so well. They call each other best friends and are even going to preschool together. And it’s not just the kids, my neighbour and I have become great friends too. We chat often and about pretty much everything and if we ever need a quick play date all we have to do is text and walk across the street! It’s honestly awesome and it’s a friendship that I’m so happy to have (for me and the girls).

So you see, although WHO we’re friends with may change as we get older, it’s not necessarily true that we will have less friends, but rather, NEW friends…for ourselves and our kids.