Last night I went to a dinner/pot luck activity at a nearby home affiliated with the new group I’ve been visiting at this church. I’m pleased to say, so far so good.
I won’t lie- when I first got there I was really wondering what I was doing there. There were around a dozen other people there. I was standing off to the side, and everyone else was talking with each other. They all knew each other, so they were all catching up on the past week or the latest goings-ons at the church, and I was just feeling out of place.
But as the evening went on, things loosened up and it just got better. I’m not talking about alcohol- no one had anything harder than a Diet Coke- but once the food was served and we were sitting down around a couple of tables, it just felt like I was less “out”. Maybe it was the physical proximity or the body language. Whatever it was, it was good.
There was also a girl who arrived who is a nurse at the same hospital and even in the same unit where I was after my car accident ten years ago. When we were talking, and that came out, that really helped. I told her about my experiences and my memories (what little there is), and she talked about her experiences. I guess it was a conversation starter for us. She did not work there at the same time I was there- I think she is about my age, so she would have also been in high school back then- but it was still neat to talk to her.
I’m not sure what my future holds, but I have a good feeling about this group.
[...] night I went to a group dinner/pot luck/game night thing. It was interesting… definitely a little bit strange and awkward but also good. I [...]