Andddd, it begins...

Even at such a young age, little Rainbow Brite  knows that this will end badly.

I just met this really pretty, new, young faculty member. She's writing a grant and looking for a new friend. She apparently thinks I can assist her in both. She's coming to the church I attend on Sunday, and she wants to plan a sushi date. She's also a dinosaur (see my post on my BFF's wedding). While part of me knows I should be excited at the thought of a new young friend, all the parts of me that control my actions are terrified. I mean she's pretty, afro-centric, full of energy, and extremely successful- I'm pretty sure she's only a year or two older than me and she's already a PhD'd faculty member and professional blogger with over 50,000 followers. And she wants to go have sushi with me...? Clearly something has to be wrong with her. But then again, she doesn't know me yet. As much as she is everything I've been waiting for, I'm terrified of her. I wish I hadn't been so friendly when she came by my office today. I hate that I even mentioned my church- though she asked. More importantly, I hate that I agreed to share cells. That implies communication will commence. And in order to be friendly, I must continue and encourage that communication.

*deep sigh* 

I feel that I will only disappoint her. Her hopes of a new young girlfriend will be dashed at my first bout of moodiness. She'll feel slightly insulted when I decline her plus-one invitation to some dinosaur sponsored walk-for-Jesus-athon. She'll recoil at the potency of my polarizing abilities.

...She just sent me a follow-up email... It was sooo nice chatting with you today!  See you at church Sunday!


*blank stare*


Last night, the adorable little 22 year old that I made fast friends with in Austin texted me to say she wanted to visit me next month. Again, my glee was quickly followed by a feeling of impending doom. This poor child will surely be chagrined at the fact that not only are there no fun bars to hop, but even if there were, I'd much rather stay in with a Redbox and popcorn and have us do our nails... I don't think that 22 year olds eat popcorn- only the nuts that they find on the floor of the bar.


I've realized now that meeting new people is not hard. It's the turning them into friends part that's the real killer. Much like dating, I fear this is something that I may have forgotten how to do. I tire easily. I long for comfort and familiarity. While new things are great and invigorating at first, I always find myself growing weary of them long before they reach the status of an old, comfortable thing.


I don't know what I'm going to do about either of this two potentially epic fails. What I do know though is that worrying about it will accomplish nothing. Trust me. I've tried. It has yet to provide any positive results for me.  Like all the other new opportunities that have made their way into my life recently, I will just play all of these by ear. I'll take my time and try not to over think... and then I'll pray like hell that despite my shortcomings in cultivation etiquette, it all comes out in the wash.