Breakfast with Friends

“What if I don’t make any friends?” I asked my mom, confessing my innermost fears late one night with my move to New York only days away. I considered everything I was leaving behind. “I mean, it’s taken me a lifetime to build the friendships that I hold so dear,” I dramatically lamented.

Looking back on it, it seems kinda’ funny now. I wasn’t worried about anything else. I was about to start over, cross country, from Boyd, Texas to New York City. I was moving into my new apartment sight unseen. I had never even laid eyes on the Brooklyn neighborhood that I was about to live in. You would think I might be a little more concerned about those things, but I wasn’t.

You see, I need people. Because I love people. All people. I mean, really, really love them. I adore relationships. What if I never connected with anyone in New York? How would I even begin to find my tribe there?

“They don’t know you yet. But when they get to know you, they’re gonna’ love you,” my mom returned. It was the sweetest thing ever. Because she really meant it. She has that much faith in me. And I’m happy to report eleven and a half months later that she was right. I have learned that your tribe will find you, or should I say that you will find your tribe?

I had to put myself out there. And so did they. And then we all started crashing into each another. It must be some rule somewhere, written in some ancient language, or some scientific explanation based on the law of attraction. In any case, my tribe has grown, and I cannot imagine my life before them or without them.

Tonight, I pause to consider their places in my heart and my place in their hearts, and I’m just overwhelmed with gratefulness for the life I’m living, for the ways I’m still growing, and for the story that continues…

Put yourself out there, folks. Someone, somewhere, is waiting for you. And when they get to know you, they’re gonna’ love you.

Peace and Love.