Saturday, July 12, 2008

Meeting friends 101

OK. SO I've found my million dollar idea: Matchfriends.com. Online friend dating. After all, isn't finding a platonic kindred spirit as challenging a task as finding a romantic kindred spirit?

Well I say it is. And then there's the tricky strategy of going about transforming a very casual encounter with a potential kindred spirit into a more meaningful "relationship." I have been in three different situations where the potential was GREAT to connect, and I let it pass me by because I didn't want to appear creepy and weird.

#1) Rewind to last Wed. The Rochester Library was advertising this neat-o kid singer to perform LIVE in their auditorium. After mapquesting, I toted Jackson and myself to the library a touch early (rare). We ended up getting good spots in the line to enter the auditorium (let me tell you, this singer was WELL LOVED by this community - there must've been 100 kids there). Behind me stood a woman with a baby on her back and 4 little ones scurrying around her. I started the conversation by finding out if ALL THOSE KIDS were hers (pretty sure I knew the answer - she is dark complected with dark eyes and two of them were blonde haired blue eyed kiddos!). Nope, she was watching two of them for her friend. A few exchanges later, I just KNEW it. She was my new BFF! So we're standing in line and it starts to move. I'm PANICING thinking, "Good God, what if she sits someplace different and I lose my chance to be her friend FOREVER?" But, alas, I strategized my sitting RIGHT next to her and her crew. THEN, I find out the baby on her back, Holden, is 13 months - JACKSON'S AGE! The chances are just getting better that this woman is destined to be my bossom buddy. The music starts, and Jackson is CLEARLY too young to appreciate it, more interested in the girls' hair sitting in front of us. I keep waiting for the right moment before we bolt to get her cell phone, her email, her IM, her facebook account, her home address - ANY way to reconnect. But I reconsidered, thinking that would be too creepy so soon. So I reasoned with myself, "Jackson is about to terrorize this place B4 this guitar guy finishes his last song. Corinne will likely be present at a future library event (she told me every Wed they have fun things for kids). NEXT time I'll hunt her down and have the courage to pounce! For now, I gotta find an exit strategy to keep Jackson from pulling EVERY last hair out of that kids' head!" So off we went.

#2) Last Thursday, after the enormous thunderstorm, Jackson and I hightailed it for our first Rochester Mall visit. We navigated our way to the kiddie play area. What a BALL! He was a hoot just mesmorized by all those bigger kids! One kid, Jessica, is not bigger. She is about his same size and when I spoke with her mom, I found out they were both 13 months. Mom was about miy heights. A bit shy, but definitely friend material. We talked lightly about baby stuff. And we laughed at our little ones poking and playing with each other. But when it was time to go, I still felt strange about fessing up to this woman, "HEY, I have no friends here. Would you be interested in trying me out? I'm fun. I promise!" Geez, what's the proper ettiquette for predicament? So Jackson and I said the appropriate, technically-we're-strangers WAVE, when what i really wanted to give was a this-may-seem-weird-but-i-kind-of-think-you're-cool-let's-hang-out HUG.

#3) Yesterday (Sunday), we tried out a Presbyterian church in the area. They were having their annual outdoor worship service and it was a beautiful day. We sat in the back since the nursery wasn't open for this special event and Jackson would be buzzing around. Back in that same area was a family with two little girls and a set of NEWBORN twins! Adorable. And guess what the Mom was wearing? Multicolored (marbelized, kinda) Birkenstocks. Scott leans over and says, "Those are Tricia shoes!" This was my kind of gal, I could tell. I'll spare the details, because ALREADY this blog is way too long, but I let cool-shoes-mother-of-twins girl get away too.

So, there you have it. I need to take a meeting friends 101 class. I suck.

But, here's the CRAZIEST thing. Back to potential friend #1: Over the weekend I went to the post office (mapquested, of course) and on my way back I was stopped at a light. GUESS WHO I SAW CROSSING THE STREET RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES? Corinne. BFF Hopefuly Number One! How crazy is that? I thought it would have been WAY over the top if I had left my car running, hopped out, and tackled her for her phone number at that point. So I just mumbled to myself, "That is too weird," and went on my merry way. But really, isn't that crazy? I'll report more after my Wed Library time. Maybe the third time seeing her will be a charm...

Would anyone like to invest my Matchfriends.com idea?

7 comments:

Unknown said...

You had me laughing out loud with the part about seeing Corinne the second time while in your car. "if I had left my car running, hopped out, and tackled her for her phone number"... What a hoot.

You should've put on your best Gomer Pyle face and with a big wave yelled "HEY REMEMBER ME?" On second thought, she might have thought you were some kind of stalker.

Emily said...

I love your style Tricia, anyone would be honored to be your friend. You just draw people to you, soon you are going to be scraping these Minnesota people off! :)
I love the friend matching idea, I am game if you want to do it.
Love to you all!
Em

Emily said...

I love your style Tricia, anyone would be honored to be your friend. You just draw people to you, soon you are going to be scraping these Minnesota people off! :)
I love the friend matching idea, I am game if you want to do it.
Love to you all!
Em

Emily said...

umm...two comments, make that three, no idea what happened there.

Rachel said...

You know I am always available to teach the friend-making 101 class! I've gotten pretty decent at it over the years. P.S. when are you going to find that softball team??

Joy Strancar said...

It's Wednesday! I'm waiting to hear how it went at the Library :)
You crack me up ;)
Mis ya!

Tiffany McCallen said...

I could TOTALLY use this service. You piqued my curiosity, so I did a quick Google search. As it turns out, someone beat you to the punch: http://friendfinder.com/

Perhaps you should sign up?!

On another note, I'm so glad you're up and running in MN. I love reading your posts and hearing your Tricia stories from afar.