Can You Believe...

...these kids are almost 2 and 4?! I can't.

Friends

Almost six years ago, I left my most dear friends in the greater Seattle area to move up here with my husband Aaron and begin a life up here. It was scary for me, and harder to transition than I had imagined. How would I make new friends, and what would my old friends think? I am not the center of the universe, but I still felt I would be practically excommunicated by my old friends for moving so far away. It seems the ones who really wanted to keep in touch with me either read my blog, or keep in touch on Facebook, which seems to be enough, but I constantly miss them.

Moving up here, it did take a while. I was friends with people from church, but I was the new one, and didn't know them as well as they knew each other. I had other friends, but it was the same thing... I was the one on the outside. If you're wondering the degree to which I soul-searched, you have no idea.

But then slowly different friends emerged from absolutely nowhere. It took two years of living in Blaine lonely, but finally I felt a sense of belonging. I had family in town, who are wonderful, but its a different feeling when someone wants to hang out with you despite not being related.

Then there's the issue of authenticity. Everyone who knows me knows I don't really have the need to sugar-coat my life. WYSIWYG is a term I learned in a computer class that states "What You See is What You Get"... and really, that's me. I'm not going to try to be someone I'm not, although I will definitely take fashion advice. :) I also love to debate (as a means of considering all options before the right one), which one of my new friends found out at our young mom's bible study this week. I guess I make people want to know me, rather than the concept of me.

I am really grateful for the friends I have up here. They enjoy time spent with our families and our kids. Some of them like coffee, and most of them love to laugh. One of them makes really awesome homemade Bloody Mary's, which I thought I hated until I tried one. Yummy. Then there's learning to crochet and reading Twilight books, two things I really had sworn I would never do. :)

I am also not the typical blogger. I wish I was as amazing as some of my friends who do pictures and colors, and creative things, but when it comes down to clicking "New Post," my thoughts on life just come pouring out. Its interesting to me, but not to everyone... and that's ok. :) And I must say, when my fingers hit the keyboard the words flow like honey.

Thanks for reading!

Latte Huggers.

...hugging trees one latte at a time.