Making Friends

It will come as no surprise to you, dear friends, that I (yes, me!) am impatient!  Yes, you know it, and I know it too.  And that is why you will also know that when something happens more quickly than I expect it to (even though I definitely expected whatever that thing was to happen already, so it can't REALLY happen faster than I really truly expected it to), it is an awesome moment.  Today, this kind of thing happened.

I've been in a funk for a few days.  Not for any real reason, which is what makes funks so damned intolerable.  Even "sun of my life" has been in a funk.  In the same breath of expressing annoyance he will actually say that he is not only in a fine mood but in a damned fine mood.  Of course the truth is that we have both been in FINE moods, but we haven't been in necessarily EXCELLENT moods, and there is an important degree of difference between fine and excellent.  In a survey that would be the difference between like 3 and 5 on a 5 point scale.  It's a big deal.  3 indicates serious structural improvements.

Anyway, tonight has changed all of that...at least for a little bit.  We actually not only experienced the joy of Santa Cruz as a lovely place that the two of us enjoy in all it has to offer through hiking trails, sunshine, beaches, etc., but as a place that we can enjoy WITH other people.  We may have made our first friends here tonight.  

Our neighborhood bar around the corner didn't entice us at first because it is in a strip mall with Safeway, Ace hardware, and our dry cleaning place.  But it turns out that this is THE place to be on the westside of Santa Cruz.  It was an inviting place...again, I will take a moment to note that being in a crowded place in this town where there is not a seat to be found makes people be GENEROUS by making space for you at the bar, something I have never really experienced.  A busy bar in DC meant someone actually might purposefully put a purse or a butt cheek on the chair that you were just grasping for because s/he didn't want you to invade his/her space...even though we are in a public and not private space.  Here, we simply asked if two seats were taken and not only were people polite about it, but they actually moved over to make space for us.  I was speechless for a few moments.  

As we hung out there and enjoyed ourselves and the lively crowdedness of the bar, one of our neighbors actually walked into the place!  After a while, we got to talking with him and then, his wife came and we got to talking to her and next thing you know we have so many things in common aside from our address!  We have exchanged numbers and have expressed interest in hanging out.  I'm so excited!  Oh, the exhilaration of connecting with people.  It's so important to really settling into a place.  Of course, we've only been here a few weeks, but it's also been a few weeks, and it was feeling like it was about time to start meeting some folks.  All the better that they are our neighbors.