On Friday morning my new friend Myriam came over to chat with me about our church service. She is a twenty-something, newlywed who works as a nanny. A very good one I am sure, after seeing her around my kids. We talked for two and half hours and could have gone on much longer if my kids didn't need to eat. Her mother is French and her father from Morocco. He lives there part time and she visits quite often. Her husband was born in London but his parents are from Ghana and the Congo. It felt so good to have an adult conversation and to make a British friend.
My first Sunday here I met Nicole- she is from Minnesota but has lived in London for eight years and for an amateur linguist like myself I couldn't tell she was American at first. But it's funny how we adapt and sometimes when she and I are talking her British accent slips. In fact she said that people have said her husband (a through and through Englishman) sounds American. Anyway- she has three adorable little girls that Miriam fell in love with instantly. Their names are Ninette (5), Persephone(4) and Morrigan(2) and we hear nothing but "Ninette and Poppy" all day every day from Mim. On Friday Nicole invited us over to play and then our husbands joined us for dinner.
I don't consider myself a shy person or an introvert, but I do have insecurities that make me nervous about making friends in a new city and a little unsure if I'm the kind of person someone would like to spend time with. (I'm NOT fishing for compliments or reassurances here, I'm just trying to be honest.) So I felt really relieved on Friday night that I had the chance to get to know these great ladies and I'm really excited to have friends and spend more time with them. I knew I wanted to make friends and I have always considered inclusion and belonging to be a basic human need, but I was surprised about how good it really did feel to be connected here.