New Years Eve and Lacking Groups of Friends

I know I said I would write about my job and boss today, but I'm still working on the best way to write that post, so I offer you this one instead.

A saying of mine is that I have friends who "come in ones." This means that I have never really had groups of friends that all know each other and were all friends. Sometimes this is helpful/cool, because it means my individual friends confide things in me that they might not in others because they know I have no one to tell.

Other times it is less enjoyable. I remember telling a friend once that being with multiple members of my extended family felt like nothing else in the world. She, knowing me well, hypothesized that maybe that wouldn't be such a big deal to me if I had more groups of friends. As much as I adore my extended family - and I do - I think she has a point. I envy this friend and her group of high school friends who are almost like family. I imagine what it was like for another friend to work at a fast food restaurant and have a ton of inside jokes with her co-workers. I want that.

I had it once. For about five years I lived in a dormitory where the people that lived there as well as the staff members were like family. I didn't share my deep, dark, secrets with all of them, but we were extremely comfortable with one another, always teasing and laughing. I don't think I really want to go back to my university days, but I do look at pictures of these people on Facebook with an ache in my heart, because I miss the community.

For New Years Eve this year, I went to the home of two friends who are married with a baby. It was a very quiet get-together, there was never more than seven people in the house that night, and I loved it. A friend from a different part of my life asked me why later, and I think I just felt like I belonged. I knew most of the people at that gathering, and the couple I didn't know were very friendly. it was wonderful.

I hope to gather even more "friend groups" in the future, because New Years Eve proved what I've always known: feeling like I belong does my soul good.