It’s been a week, I can tell you that much.
Independence Day is my favorite holiday, hands-down. This year, a bit of a wash due to the rain and some other circumstances. I think I’m becoming a hermit.
The neighbors are great. Very friendly, all of them. I just don’t feel like I relate to them. Being with them all at once is hard, since they all know each other well enough that I’m still a bit of an outsider. I’ve never really been good at winning people over in groups first, although I think I can hold my own one-on-one. But I’ve never had the chance to do that with these folks, and I don’t know how I would.
Plus there’s a weird atmosphere in the group. There’s the certain dichotomy of genders in the neighborhood group. The wives and husbands converse in separate groups, and I get the impression that there is no intermingling. While leaning over Berta’s shoulders while she was sitting with the other women, I got a distinct unwelcoming feeling. Since I’m such a geek, I don’t really find myself able to talk about sports with the other husbands. I’m waiting for that magic moment when I find an interest that we all share and I can contribute to the conversation.
So, I’ve been feeling a bit “out” of the local festivities. I hope that will improve by next year. I’ll make that a personal goal. Help me do it, ok?
Anyway, the rest of the week has been odd with work. Nothing specific, but just an interesting week. The new phone (did I mention that?) has been very helpful in that regard. I’ll have to elaborate in a separate post.
I took the attached picture last night or the night before from the back porch while we were eating quesadillas that Berta made on the grill. That’s our swingset.
The thing about this that I should stress is that this balloon thing happens all the time. We’re in a pretty good open area for it. They could very well be taking off from the field on the other side of the hill.
Don’t believe me?
So I occasionally envy the lives of the people I know in the city, being able to get together easily to hang out, having such a pool of like-minded people to choose from for any specific social need. I’d like to think that if I lived in the city that I would have more friendship opportunities. But, there are no balloons in the city that I know of. At least, not like there are here. The view from here just might work out yet.
