Socialising

I move a lot. I make new friends, but rarely hang on to them past the next move. Really, since college, I haven't made a friend that has become close enough to last through the every-six-month changes I go through. This isn't a complaint, I'm fortunate to have a few really good friends from high school and college so I don't feel like I'm lacking friends. But what I've noticed about this current set-up, where I come back to the US so often, is that I get the chance to see people who normally wouldn't last through this move, but because I can sustain the friendship by every 3 months visits, they're lasting a bit longer. It's kinda nice! Last night, I went out with a few friends from work, and then had some people over to the house to hang out and dring mulled wine. It's a nice balance - I have just enough people and depth of relationships for a social life so I don't go crazy bored when I here, but not so much that I miss life here terribly.

What is weird is having this conflict of interest - I love being with people and going out so much more now, but it's still only a very close second to loving being on my own, playing the piano, reading, going for walks. I couldn't decide whether I wanted the house (and new 50" screen TV) to myself last night, or to go to dinner/drinks with my work friends. Fortunately, the dilemma was solved because we are going to the mountains today, where I'll have plenty of chances for 'space.'

It's December 23! As soon as my brother wakes up (I'm unfortunately wide awake since 6:30am) we'll drive to the mountains, then tomorrow we have Christmas with my aunt and uncle and cousins in Winston-salem, and then it's our Christmas :D Going to be such a fun and fast week...I'll be back on the plane Thursday before I have time to register which country I'm in!