I get by with a little help from my friends...

Reading through the entries I’ve seen on The Friends You Love blog hop and some over at Shell’s Pour Your Heart Out blog hop I started seeing a resounding theme that seemed to be common to all of us.


“It’s so hard to make friends nowadays”


“I don’t really have many close friends”


“I wish we had more couples to do things with”

And on and on it went. I kept reading and going me too! I know exactly how they feel! Wait, it’s not just me?

The problem isn’t exclusive to women either. My husband has shared the same story with me countless times. The friends he does have really don’t fit in with married life either and we have argued that many times. They are mostly guys he has met through work. On a construction site. Single, into activities that I don’t approve of and definitely wouldn’t be bringing my kids around. But Joey is right when he says to me – “I don’t know anyone else down here though and where am I supposed to meet people anyway?”

Life isn’t the way it use to be. Neighbors aren’t as close or as friendly. People are so into technology that you don’t get personal connection like you use too. Don’t believe me? Look around the next time you’re in line at the grocery store or the bank, odds are people are on their phone either talking, texting or checking Facebook. Actual person to person human interaction is rare. Even when we go to church people don’t really mingle or reach out. And you know what? It sucks. Big Time.

I want more friends. Other couples to hang out with. Have dinner with. Hit the park on the weekend with our kids. A girlfriend to meet up with for lunch. And I know there are so many of you that want the same thing. The question was – how to do it without it being a weird thing? I mean do I just start chatting it up with random people? Hmmm…awkward! Besides, I wouldn’t feel comfortable inviting them back to my house, ya know?

So I decided I’m going to use technology to my favor this time. I know I have quite a few people that read my blog in the Central Florida area. And they probably know more people, who know even more people. So I just need to get this ball rolling and see what I can do with it. So I am proposing a meet up of all of us Central Florida bloggers and friends who do want to meet more people. I’m thinking in a park somewhere. We can do a potluck picnic the first time. I’m leaning toward Lake Monroe Park in Debary for the first meet up. I created a facebook event for it here and I’m spreading the word via Blog Frog and Twitter. I really hope all of you will join in and spread the word too. This will be no commitment – just come out and have a good time. Exchange information with the people you do hit it off with and start some new friendships.

None of this is set in stone yet. We can discuss it on facebook and in my BlogFrog community and decide what days and location work best for all of us. I’ll create an actual sign up list for bringing food and drinks etc. This is just the starting point. Every Thursday I’ll update with the latest detail but I really want this to be successful – I need all of you to help make that a reality!

If you don’t live in Central Florida and wish you could participate I encourage you to start your own meet up and reach out! I think we all have more power than we realize!