Friendster

Aside from making me all gushy about love, the wedding had the side benefit of introducing me to some fantastic new people, which, naturally, has me thinking about how many people-meeting situations I've been in in the last few (five) years.

In D.C., most of my social circle was directly or indirectly:

• from college, or
• from one of my two jobs.

Of my close D.C. friends, I can literally think of only one exception.

In New Hampshire, I like my colleagues, for sure, and have gotten close to a couple of them, but it is less of a family, which has both pros and cons. And there's only one college friend close by (plus two more a little further afield) with whom I interact regularly.

So, where do my friends here come from?

So far, I've found them:

• in bars
• in class
• in my bowling league
• when they started dating my existing friends
• working on that play I still need to tell you about
• at summer camp
• through online dating*
• and, yes, at work.

Day 17 of my month of gratitude: I am thankful for people who wander into my life and make it richer — and for each new opportunity to find them.

*I should add that online dating has so far yielded few amazing friends but close to no romantic prospects over years of doing it. I am told that "through friends" is also a good way to meet romantic prospects; so far, the yield by that method has been similar to online dating.