Early (for me) morning ramble

For whatever the reason I've been thinking a lot about friendship the past few days. Maybe it's the holidays. Or maybe it's just another one of the odd things my brain throws out there every now and then.

(Example: This morning, I woke from a dream in which I was trying to convince a group to meet at Laclede's Landing for dinner. Laclede's Landing? I had no idea, either. It turns out it's in St. Louis. I've been to St. Louis once, and stayed in a hotel at Laclede's Landing. I did not eat in the area. But it left an impression, apparently.)

Anyway, my sister likes to tease that my definition if friendship is a little narrower than most people's, in that it often means I've been friends with someone since we were 6. And many of my friendships do date to elementary or middle school. But I also have very close friends I've met in just the past few years, so it's not purely a function of time.

Something a German teacher once said has stuck with me a lot -- that most Americans say they have dozens of "friends," because they'll say someone they just met and have had a drink or two with is a friend. On the other hand, most Europeans (well, maybe just those wacky Germans) have a definition closer to mine and thus have a much tighter circle of friends.

So, what's my point here? (Other than illustrating the dangers of blogging before one is fully awake.) Well, at the risk of sounding like a recluse, I haven't made much of an attempt to make friends here in Connecticut. The TV Goddess has suggested that this may be because I know I don't plan on being here long, and that's probably correct, but if I do wind up here much longer I've pretty much damned myself.

I think it's just because I like my definition of friendship and, honestly, I have enough friends -- most of whom I don't get to see nearly enough as it is. So I'd rather spend the precious free time I have reconnecting with them.

And absent my growing fear of dying alone in my apartment* because I don't have enough people who will check up on my well-being, I think I'm good with that.

* This was not helped by this week's re-run of 30 Rock, the rapidly improving NBC sitcom, in which Tina Fey's character faces the same fear after nearly choking multiple times and having to Heimlich herself.