My People

I had a fantastic group of friends in college. I love them, and they are still the easiest people in the world to be around. I guess that's just what happens when you spend hours in pajamas and towels together. Regular clothing, too, but really, I think it's the pj's and shower garb that cinched these friendships.

Most of them live in the DC/Baltimore area, and those lucky bastards get to see each other all the time. I struggled a bit with feeling removed and out of the loop when I moved 3000 miles away, but I dealt with it. Now I want to introduce you to the people I spend the most time with out here. And by people, I mean people, and also animals.

I've never been particularly outgoing. Sure, I can talk up a storm -- and really loudly -- when I'm in the right crowd. But I'm not one of those people who makes friends with everyone they meet. It's just kind of hard for me to reach out, and when I do make a connection with someone, I'm a little shy about maintaining that link. It's a lot like dating -- you meet someone, you have fun talking to them, then you really want to see them again, but what if they don't want to see you? What if they were just being polite? What if they already have so many friends that they just don't need any more??*

(*I may still be a little traumatized from being a new student in 9th grade at a tiny school where everyone was practically born from the same womb. Making friends in high school? Torture, y'all.)

When I moved out to SD, I took a job where I had my own office on the floor above most of my other coworkers. It can be pretty lonely, and for someone who is a natural introvert, it's a dangerous arrangement. I think people forgot I existed for a good year or so, and any hopes I had of becoming besties with my coworkers were dashed pretty quickly. Now that I've been there for almost two years, I've learned to emerge from my cave on a regular basis for some social interaction, so I feel less like a troglobite most days. But anyway, the point is that it took me two years to really consider my coworkers friends.

But even though I'm not the extrovert with a billion friends (and neither is my husband), I have discovered that T and I have developed a solid circle of peeps out here. They make me feel smiley.

So here's my cast of characters:
 
My husband, T. I adore him like whoa.

Jack:

Jack was first owned as a kitten by one of T's high school friends, who then passed him on to another high school friend. Eventually T got custody when High School Friend #2 moved away. Despite his tumultuous upbringing, Jack is the sweetest cat in the world. He's also very talkative.

Oliver:

T and I got Oliver together when we realized that Jack was awesome and that a baby cat would only double the fun. We were living in separate apartments, but I spent most of my time at T's with baby Ollie, who liked to attack my hair when I slept. Just a few months after we got Ollie, T moved to San Diego. I blame T's abandonment for Oliver's current grumbly curmudgeon tendencies.

Rosie:

She is so damn cute. I love her. But it wasn't always so. I'll tell you about it sometime.

Our friends J-Ram & J-Gun:

J-Gun went to college around the corner from my apartment in Pennsylvania, and then he and J-Ram lived in the same apartment complex as T. Despite our East Coast proximity, it wasn't until we all moved out to San Diego coincidentally at the same time that we became frequent collaborators in friendship.

Chris:

He's Greek. He went to Penn State. He and T write about local music together.

J-D and S-K:

J-D is T's old college roommate. J & S are also from Pennsylvania. They moved to SD last year and now we see them all the time. Apparently, T and I are not good at making friends with people who don't have ties to Pennsylvania.

Just kidding! Amanda here is from Ohio:

She's also a prolific food blogger, PhD student, and one of the most hard-working people I know. Sometimes I think I'd like to emulate her work ethic. But then I'm distracted by something shiny and TV-series-on-DVD-like.

I also have to give shout-outs to the lovely ladies in my writing group, with whom I enjoy dinner and lively conversation once a month, and to mi linda amiga Chilena, who is teaching me Spanish.

I still miss my East Coast friends like crazy. Our friendships have shifted, adopted more of a catch-up tone than a share-everything tone, but when I do see them, it's like nothing ever changed. And just for one more photo, look how pretty my East Coast bffs are:

Okay, one more:

To sum up: Even though T and I both yearn for the friends who are 3000 miles away, our group in SD has become a pretty snuggly little West Coast family. Except that we don't snuggle. But maybe we should.