Friendship (frndshp) n.

1. The quality or condition of being friends.
2. A friendly relationship: formed many new friendships over the summer.
3. Friendliness; good will: a policy of friendship toward other nations.

I’ve been contemplating friendship lately. I have many people I would call friends. I have a number of close friends. There are people that I could call without hesitation if I really needed emotional support or help of some sort. I know that person would drop everything to help me. But there are very few people that I could call and say “hey let’s go eat Mexican food and drink margaritas on Wednesday night”. Partly because most of my friends don’t live in Pennsylvania and partly because those who do are busy with their own lives (children, husbands, work, home, etc).

I would love to have a couple friends…but I just need one good one. Someone who is free once a month or so. Someone who can pinch hit for Deanna or Amy until they figure out that they should move to Pittsburgh. When contemplating the sad state of affairs when I want a girls night, I wonder how in the world do you make new friends in your 30’s? Work is a logical answer. There is only one woman at work who is even close to my age. She is busy with her life…but a potential friend. It’s hard to develop anything that would stand up outside of the office though because she has a 16 month old at home and of course wants to sprint out of work to pick her up at daycare. Church is another logical answer. Except I don’t go. And when I did, everyone there was 85. The churches in my area that attract a younger congregation tend to be those nouveau churches you see in mini-malls. Not really my style. I don’t go to bars…besides women my age in a bar are not looking to be picked up by the likes of me (at least not for friendship). I tried to take a fun community learning class – figured I could learn something while meeting new people – this summer but it was cancelled for lack of interest. I’m hoping that was a commentary on the class and not on me.

So, I’ll admit it. This is yet another hope I’ve hung on the head of my future daughter. I hope that taking her to the park and to other mom/daughter-related activities will help me meet others who are new to the mom gig. (“Honey, why don’t you go play with that little girl in the jumper. Her mom looks cool.”) I’m going to pimp out my kid to make friends. Man, I’m pathetic.