Early Stages of Friendship

It’s been a while since I formed a new friendship – not the type that’s a friend of your husband’s, a new coworker forced upon you to get to know, or a new neighbor. Those are too easy. It’s almost like you have no choice. I am talking about something more raw. One that you met somehow. You meet again. You start talking. You talk more. And voila, a friendship has begun.

Bubbles, of course, as part of our Inadvertently Domesticated tradition – not her real name, is a girl I never thought I’d be friends with. And it is because of this nickname that I have given her. She’s really bubbly. I am not. She becomes friends with everybody. I do not. So, this definitely shows that this friendship as I call it now really came to be because of her.

I appreciate this early stage of friendship because it seems to be the part that I do not remember after years of friendship. Bubbles worked in a different department. She lives pretty close. In our small talks before, she would always throw in the “let’s do this, let’s do that”. I thought it was too forward to say in small talks. Isn’t that funny? But I’m an introvert like that. It wasn’t until I accepted an invitation to go shopping that broke the ice, at least that of this ice queen’s.

We went shopping and we talked forever. She was so curious of me. I like to talk about myself but I made it a point to get to know her too. Now, we go jogging together. She must really like me because she wants to be my neighbor. That is not bad at all. I learned that in the early stages of friendship, you end up talking so much and it is that part that can make the relationship flourish or that’s it. I’ve had people whom I shared early stages of friendships with that never went forward because of what we learned of each other. That is why it is always nice when it does.

Here in the States, I found that the biggest part missing in most of my friendships is the part of having someone to rely on. You can be friends because you get along well, you have fun, or because you are the one there. However, breaking the barrier of being a support system is what sets apart your different friendships. And that is what I appreciate with Bubbles.

Even at this early stage, I can safely say it’s a relief having Bubbles around. The timing was perfect too as one of my closest friends moved to Oregon. God really gives us what we need when He thinks we need them.