A lovely family moved in across the street from us a week or so ago. The parents look a bit younger than ABM and I. They have two kids, an eight-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. They haven't been here long but I can feel my snarkiness rising.
Why? Because they do stuff. The father and son are outside every evening shooting hoops or tossing the football around. The whole family goes bike riding every day. The husband and wife were even playing Frisbee without the kids being anywhere around! All this family togetherness right outside my front door is more than I can take :-). We look like a big family of lumps next to them.
ABM is determined that we are going to be friends with them. Our kids already play with their kids, and the men have bonded over lawn work. I am just not ready to make new friends, especially so close to home. One reason that my best friend Rabbit and I have remained tight for so long is because she has never lived close enough to me to witness my moodiness. I have long periods where I don't want to be bothered with other humans and it is difficult for me to keep a civil tongue when I am like that. It is better for me not to start a friendship with the wife rather than hurt her feelings a few weeks down the road when I go back into my shell.
2 comments:
It's pretty darn likely that more good would come of you befriending these newbies than pretending you're doing them a favor by laying low. Shells come and go, but people are forever. Until they become mulch. (And then it's too late to have learned how cool they were.)
PS Not all the good ideas have been done. It's just that all the good ideas that HAVE been done influence all the rest. So keep writing.
Dear Lumpy,
When you are back in your shell you might want to read, A PARTY OF ONE by Anneli Rufus. She understands.
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