I’ve been training for this my
entire life. I know some of you will
find that hard to believe but truth be told, I’m much more comfortable
isolated. It’s how I grew up. I’m happy
in my own little world, people know me there. I’ve been told that people who are busy;
involved in way too many things, are actually afraid to be alone. That may be true for some but it isn’t true
for me. I’m involved because it’s a way
to force myself to be out with other people
Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t that I
don’t like people. I do. Very much. I
have many friends and I cherish those friendships. But … they reached out to
me. Had it been left up to me, well I’m just not comfortable reaching out to
people. It’s probably got a lot to do with the way I grew up.
I grew up in the country, the
oldest of three. I was almost three when my brother was born and just 11 days
short of 4 when my sister came along. The two of them were friends from the
get-go and friends with all of the other kids that were around that were close
to their age. There weren’t any kids my age,
except a couple boys and since I was a tomboy that sort of worked.
My cousin and I were buddies when
she moved out from the city. She was two
years older but since our mother’s were sisters and best friends, we were
together all the time. Until she met
Dick. I think she was in the 6th
grade when she met and fell in love with him.
True love, she married him immediately after her graduation from
Michigan State.
We lived on a lake and that lake
was my best friend. I was either in it
or on in summer and on it skating in the winter. I was also happy sitting on our porch looking
out at it, dreaming of adventures or drawing pictures.
It didn’t matter if the pictures
were good or not. I always showed them
to Miss Dewey, the visiting art teacher at the two-room schoolhouse I went to
for most of my elementary school years.
She liked whatever I did. I think
it was because she knew I liked to do it and she saw a spark of talent.
There were kids my age at that
school but they all lived close to the school. I lived 3 miles away and walking
that far to play with a friend was out of the question.
In the 6th grade I was
moved to the big school, kindergarten to 12th grade. I made new
friends there and some lived within walking distance. I was old enough to walk a bit further. But,
still a tomboy, my favorite thing to do during recess was play softball with
the boys.
That was an age when the other girls were beginning to get crushes on
boys. I wasn’t one of them, I just liked playing softball. I remember Valentines Day in that
class. For some reason the teacher asked
the boys to vote for the Valentine Queen.
Guess who won and it had nothing to do with crushes. That didn’t make me
real popular with the girls in that class.
Except a few realized being friends with me got them closer to the boys
they had crushes on so I did make a few friends.
The next year my parents moved us
to the city for school. I wrote letters
back to the few friends I'd made but none of them wrote back. The new school I went
to was just 7th, 8th and 9th grade and was as
big as the school I had just come from.
Add to that, moving to a new larger school as the new kid is never
easy. Most of the kids have friends who
came with them from elementary school. And, we went back to the lake just about
every weekend.
I was in high school before I
really made friends there … and even then, they reached out to me. I’m blessed to have those friends. The girls, 11 friends from high school who still
get together at least once a year. We’ve
lost 2 but found one so we are now 10.
And there is Terry, my best friend.
We met when she came into my boss’s office with her mother. Her mother had to discuss something with my
boss, a lawyer. Terry is one of those outgoing people who strikes up conversations
with people easily. She started chatting
with me while she waited. We talked all
the while her mother was in the meeting. When the meeting was over and she and
her mother left my boss asked how long Terry and I had known each other. Our friendship was instant and lasting. And
as outgoing as she is, she understands me and the fact that I am quite content
in my own little world but also willing to get out with others, I can be happy
either way.
And right now, I call that a blessing.