Be Careful What You Wish For

Be careful what you wish for... you just might get it.

Did anyone else hear this expression all the time growing up? To be honest, I can't even remember who used to say it or in what context, but it has always popped back into my mind at the most (in)opportune moments. 

When I moved to D.C. last June, I was honestly petrified.  As my friend Kathryn put it, "You have to make ALL new friends!!!" And she was right. I had to make all new friends.  It was overwhelming, not because I hadn't done it before, but because I had done it before.  And it was hard.

When I moved to Baton Rouge for college, I knew exactly one other person from high school.  And we were good friends (still are) but not exactly as thick as thieves.  We have different interests and once we got to LSU, we were pulled into different directions with activities.  As it should be.  I've always been lucky to have a lot of different kinds of friends and I think that has enriched my life in multiple ways.  That said, college is sort of an easier place to start all over again in the friendship category.  There are countless clubs and organizations that people join just in the pursuit of finding common interests and establishing relationships.  Even still, I can remember feeling completely alone and sort of miserable for the first year of life in Baton Rouge.  It's not that I didn't make any friends, because I did.  Some of them even read this blog (shout out to Steph, Laura & Tiffany!). 

But I just felt like I wasn't busy enough my freshman year. And for some reason to me busy = good.  Last fall when my internship stopped and my classes started, I suddenly wasn't so busy anymore.  And I wished to be busy! To have friends and be busy!

  And guess what? I got what I wished for. 

I'm still not sure that I have an established friend "group" as I did in undergrad here in D.C. .  This is not LSU anymore and there's no clubs or sorority to fall easily into. But I do have friends here now!! And I'm so thankful for that.  But lately, I feel like I don't have time to hang out with them.  The schedule of work and school and trying to maintain a decent relationship with myself keeps me from having the wealth of time I once had to maintain friendships.  And frankly, it sucks.  My friendships are SO important to me.  With people near, people far away at home and in Louisiana, and with people i've met through blogging! And I feel like I'm slacking with all of them lately.

So, let me throw this out to all of you.  We are all busy!  How do you carve out time to maintain relationships, near and far?

Cheers on this Wednesday! It is almost the weekend and I intend to just keep chugging along...