Open Letter...

Dear future Plainfield/Indy-area friends,

I don't want to stress you out or anything, but you have big shoes to fill.  I'll limp into our relationship missing lots of folks that have become very dear to me.  I'll miss the ladies who have provided not just friendships for me, but friendships for my children.  I know that I'll maintain many of these dear relationships, but it won't be the same as knowing that I can put out a call to host myself and my children for dinner, and actually have people do it!

I'm not confident that you, as my future neighbor, will have a daughter that looks so much like my own that they could easily pass for sisters, and that go in and out of each other's houses almost as easily as their own.

And you, my other neighbor, I'm not so sure that you will switch off bus pick-up duty with me at a moment's notice.  I'm not so sure you'll love having my children over often.  I'm not so sure that I can text or call you anytime of the day, or just drop in for tea to talk about work/life/husbands, etc.  And I know you won't immediately suggest that we make dinner for each other's families to save ourselves the hassle of cooking one night a week.

And you, the folks with kids my son's age down the street.  I don't know how I'll feel about letting him ride his bike to your house.  I mean, you don't even have my cell phone number yet, how can I trust you to text me as soon as he arrives and as soon as he leaves?  Can I trust you to tell me when he's misbehaving and know I'll appreciate it?  Will you be willing to drop off your own son when my boy can't stand another after school or weekend day without a friend over?  Will I, over the course of a week, potentially see you at Bible study, a school activity, and girl's night out in addition to when our sons are getting together?  And, seriously, will you plan a birthday cruise and actually invite me along, all while keeping the expenses under $500?

And you, the first few ladies I meet in town that I really click with, will our husbands get along, too?  Will our sons finish growing up together the way my other dear friends' sons spent the first half of their lives together?  Will we come up with other cool excuses to get together, like game night?

Because, dear female friends, at various points in my life, I didn't even realize that I needed you, but I do.  Desperately.  And I have only lived in a few places where you've been right there.  When I was young, I limited you to only a few who really knew me (and those I still hold dear).  When I was a new mom, I clung to a lifeline of new moms as well.  But Lexington is the only place I've built and been built into an entire network of friends.

I'll miss it deeply.  And while I want to recreate it, I know it will be different again, too.  But deep inside, I know that somehow it will work out, because this move was meant to be.  It's just hard in the getting there.