ch-ch-ch-changes....

well, the time has come for most of my friends that i've made in the last year to move on as they have finished their/our masters program and will be venturing to all parts of the country and world. 

i've been so pleased about how this small group of friends has evolved over time.  honestly, i wouldn't have really guessed a year ago who these friends would have been.  i tried to keep my expectations at a minimum and was pleasantly surprised about who turned out to be the people that i gravitated towards and wanted to spend time with.  they are a lovely, talented, funny and highly entertaining set of friends. 

it reminds me a LOT of being a freshman in college.  i knew one person at college when i got there (my roommate) and i was SO homesick for about 3 days and nearly packed up my stuff and left.  but, it got better and my circle of friends expanded.  and toward the end of the year, my closest friends were seniors and were graduating and moving on.  and i was there for 3 more years!  i actually did that same thing again the next year and it wasn't until my junior year that i formed that larger circle of friends.  it was worth the wait, for sure, but it all involved some growing pains, some sadness over the goodbyes and some major uncertainties. 

who am i?
where do i belong?
who will i hang out with?
will i make new friends?  if so, who will they be? 
how do i meet these hypothetical friends?

and i'd be lying if i said it wasn't a bit like that now.  i moved here (to Charlottesville) a year ago.  this city has been everything and more than i imagined it would be.  it has delivered {almost} everything that i could have wanted in a new place to live and settle. 

i talked to 2 of my close guy friends last night and we were chatting on the topic of where you meet people as adults.  if it's not work (or a church community if you have that), it's REALLY hard.  i pointed out that {thought i HATE to admit it} my personality leans towards wanting/having a long-term relationship where i build my free-time events around one person and have some friends on the periphery; my closest friends are all far away at this point anyway.  being single and making friends and attending social events is sometimes...exhausting, probably because it feels almost required.  i know, i know - the grass is always greener and my life has few strings and, yada/yada/yada, i don't want to get into the whole single vs. married diatribe again. 

so, it's a new chapter and i'm excited and nervous.  i do want to challenge myself to explore, create opportunities and find some new people to hang out with.  i'm definitely open to that.  i promise myself to fight the urge to be depressed about it!  it's exciting, right?  that's what i'm telling myself at least!