The quest for friends

Out for our daily walk. My happy girl wearing her new mittens from her Oma. It actually snowed a little yesterday evening, crazy!

Change is never easy. I left so many wonderful friends behind when we moved here just 2 months ago. I certainly don’t expect people to be knocking on our door looking for friendship. Therefore I know that the only way to make things happen is to go out there and change the situation myself. So I continue to look for new ways to meet people and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Here is the progress so far:

I feel like I’ve been making friends with my neighbour Cathy, she is a sweet woman who is currently not working. Therefore I have been able to drop by or she’s come by here for little visits. I’ve appreciated the conversation and her general hospitality.

I joined the St. Catharines photography club. I’ve only been once since I went away for Thanksgiving but will go again on Tuesday evening. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time and now it seems that the time is right. Unfortunately almost all of the members (aprox 60) are in the older generation and are mostly male. Oh well, they are all very friendly and seemed to like the idea of having someone young join their group.

I started going to a Mom To Mom group on Thursday mornings. It’s close by so I can walk if I need to. So far it is just the two organizers and I, so much for meeting lots of new people. Oh well, the two woman are really nice and I have enjoyed my time with them. I’m curious to see if there will be any new moms on Thursday, as the program just started.

This morning as I was going for a walk I saw that there was a church with an “Early Years” sign out front. I have heard this name before out here and thought I would check it out; all I knew is that it was an Ontario funded drop in centre for kids and their caregivers. So I took Sarah and walked into a class that was already in session for moms and their babies 3-6 months. I learned that every Wednesday morning from 9:30-11:30 there are mom and baby classes on a variety of different subjects, this one was on development. It seems like a great program "(and it's free)and I felt welcomed right away. So I think I will return next week, which is unfortunately the last class of the set of 6 sessions. But then something new will start the following week.

There is also a “Mommy and Me” play group in the area that meets at least once a week, but you only have to go to the ones that you want to. So I may go to that on Saturday morning with Sarah, as it’s their Halloween party. The whole play group thing isn’t really for me at the moment, but I am trying to force myself into this new world. It’s kind of funny, since I loved kids and am an Elementary teacher, but I just don’t love the idea of being in a room with lots of little kids and moms all talking about their little kids. Hopefully I’ll come around, since this seems like the best way to meet others at the moment.

Well that’s the friend update. We’re still looking for the right church, so hopefully that will be a good avenue to meet people as well. I continue to pray that God will put a couple (or even one) good friend in my life. I also pray for boldness and the guts to just get out there and do my part in the situation.

Have a lovely day!