Friends

It has been a wonderful blessing to be in our new neighborhood in lots of ways.  One of them is this network of friends (I think I can call them that) that I've developed.  I've met several ladies from church, all different ages, whom I can depend on.  There are plenty of safe places in the neighborhood for my kids to be.  There are so many women who have offered help in all sorts of forms, more help than I can even use...at least for now...and I love it.  Visiting Teaching has been a huge blessing because my partner and the ladies we visit allow for real conversation about real life and it's good to be able to laugh, mourn (just a little) and feel comfortable discussing most anything together.

Then, just our neighbors are great.  Hubs and I challenged ourselves to actually go and visit neighbors this past holiday season.  I know, should be no big deal, but though we are quiet neighbors, we are also shy neighbors, so it was a big deal.  We were able to visit 2 neighbors and actually went in, sat down and learned about them and told them about us.  On Christmas Eve, I took Judy M and Quiet Man with me to drop off a goody plate to a lady who had dropped off one to us last year while we were gone.  We had the nicest visit with her and her husband.  They were good awesome people.  Many of the people in our neighborhood are empty nesters and many are retired.  They are a great bunch of people, so friendly, respectful, and understanding.

I am a quiet person around new people.  I feel socially awkward sometimes most always.  Could be being country raised, could be the very chatty mom, could be just my genetic makeup or some long ago trauma, but I am no butterfly.  So having so many friendly, fun, understanding, kind, engaging, and dependable people around makes me feel very happy.  I hope I can be as good of a neighbor and friend as these people have been to me.