let's be friends

Think about your friends for a minute. Why are you friends with these people? Because they are awesome, because they are funny, because they are smart. Right? Sure, but I think a big reason that people overlook is that you are friends because you came in contact with them. That is sort of a key step to becoming friends with someone.

Let's take college for example. My best friend and I met because we were both on the soccer team. But what if she hadn't played soccer her freshman year? We only had one class together our entire four years at school and that was because we finally chose a class our senior year just so we could be together. We lived in different dorms. We would possibly have never met. But because we did meet and I, therefore, was on her floor all hours of the day and night, I ended up meeting her roommate Dotty who is a very good friend of mine now and Dave who lived down the hall and who I ended up dating for a few years and David who was a SWA for that dorm and is now my penpal. But to become friends with these amazing people, I first had to meet them. That's sort of how it works.

When I first joined Facebook I was only "friends" with people that I was legitimately friends with in real life. But I don't think that is the point of Facebook. So nowadays I will befriend acquaintances that I like and that I wish I knew better. And Facebook is a nice, non-invasive way to do that.

I've come to know more about some of those acquaintances and realized that if we had ever actually gotten to know one another, we would be really good friends. I can just tell.

I met my friend's wife for the first time at their wedding. Yet we had heard a lot about each other through her husband. I thought she summed it up perfectly when she said, "If we only knew each other, I think we would be really good friends."

I've started hanging out with some girls from high school this past year. Notice how I didn't say friends from high school. We were not friends in high school. I met them for the first time at our 10 year high school reunion. And I adore them. There is no reason for us not to have been friends back in the day. Maybe if I had had a class with them back in high school or been on a team with them we would have become friends back then. And yet, we probably walked by each other in the hallways a million times. They were right there.

Just think about how many potentially awesome friends you have missed out on. That girl who sat on the bus next to me last week, maybe she would have become my best friend if we had started talking. The guy behind me at Chipotle last month, maybe he would be my boyfriend now if I had said hello.

Granted, meeting someone isn't a sure fire way to guarantee that you will become friends. I've meet plenty of people that I don't like.

But not meeting them pretty much stops you from becoming friends.

I don't know. In some ways it makes me a little sad knowing that I was potentially so close to meeting these awesome people. But mainly it just makes me happy knowing that there are still so many awesome people out there that I could end up being really great friends with. And, of course, I am thankful for the wonderful people that I did meet and that I am friends with. Love you guys!