Also, unlike Mary/Laura, I don't want a best friend dropping in at all hours. Mary had Rhoda, who lived upstairs. Laura had Millie, right next door. Many times, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda would drop in as soon as she heard Mary was home from work. On The Dick Van Dyke Show, Millie was always coming over to gossip over coffee or compare notes on the carpool.
No thank you. I would hate that. First of all, I'm a slob and my home is not visitor-ready at all hours (OK, it's never ready). Secondly, I value my alone time. Too much perhaps. I've learned since covid lockdown that just because something is comfortable doesn't mean it's good for me.
We saw each other a couple weeks ago for her birthday. It seems that every day since she's got ideas of other things we can do together. She's nice, she's interesting and imaginative, we have many common interests. So all this is nice, right?
It just feels like too much. If I see one of my friends once each week, that's plenty for me. (This week it's Nancy. I think. She may cancel, and if she does, that's OK.)
But Elaine is a good person, and her heart is valuable. So today I'm going to send her a nice long email to keep the dialog going and to let her know she matters.
I'm not Mary Tyler Moore after all. I'm really a cat. I'm loving and devoted, in my way.
I get it. I don't like people just dropping in unannounced either. It's nice that you are so concerned about your new friend's feelings.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy my friends but I must have my alone time. A nice long email sounds nice!! I always thought I wanted to be Ma Ingals or Olivia Walton, they could just talk to their kids and all was right with the world. Well, I had four kids and talking just didn't always work. Nope, I'm not Ma or Olivia.
ReplyDeleteI get it. I'm an introvert. I love my friends and I like the idea of loads of togetherness, but in actual practice, I can't handle being constantly on. It just drains me emotionally. I have to have time to be alone. Strangely enough, my daughter is the person who least gets that and makes constant demands on me.
ReplyDeleteI need to decompress after a day at school. I'm relate to this post.
ReplyDeleteI read all of your blog posts this week in one sitting. Your oldest friend is a tough one. The one about being fat actually made me laugh though I don't think that was your intention. It was just so honest. I'm glad your phone troubles were resolved even if you did miss some of your baseball. And I relate to this one as I seldom see anyone anymore. I talk on the phone almost daily, but I don't see people in real life (except my husband and strangers at the store).
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