Lonely Is As Lonely Does

I have pondered over the following dilemma for quite some time. Pondered over it so much, that I actually wrote an article about it. Yes, you can get to that article by clicking on the highlighted word right there. Impressive, right?

Anyway, my dilemma, if you didn't bother reading that article, is having absolutely ZERO friends to hang out with. None, zip, zilch. NADA. And it drives me nuts! I love to socialize, I love to entertain, I love to have adult interaction, dammit!

It actually feels more like pulling teeth when trying to get people to stop over to visit. This shouldn't be a difficult task. We aren't the "odd couple" that everyone tries to avoid (at least, I don't think we are) because we might try to force you to eat some sort of animal appendage that should never be thought of as food. We aren't bitchy, or moody, or crass. We aren't judgmental, or overly opinionated.

Our house is most generally clean enough for company, even if it's someone who isn't family. Yes, I feel there are two levels of clean.. family clean, and upscale clean. Most times, my house lingers between the two, so as not to offend guests that drop by out of the blue.

But my poor house stands on its own level of clean for no good reason. I should just trash the damned place, leave dirty dishes lying around with 3 months worth of mold accumulating on them. Dirty laundry on the floor, soda cans littering every free space, soiled diapers spilling out of the trash and onto the floor. Really, it wouldn't matter if I did this.. because NO ONE EVER DROPS BY!

Nine times out of 10, I will invite someone up for dinner, games, movies, social interaction.. and they deliver the lamest excuses about why not to drop by. Or just flat out lie, saying that they have other arrangements and can't make it.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't that we don't have friends, as I stated earlier. I was exaggerating a bit. We DO have friends, and the loyal ones just happen to live far enough away that a drive out to our house for them is completely out of the way. We socialize on a pretty regular basis with 3 couples. Each of them happen to live fairly close to towns/cities that we drive to/through on a regular occasion.. so going to their homes isn't a big deal. But T-Bone and I like to entertain at home every now and then, in our own comfort zone. And it happens practically never.

On very, very, VERY rare occasions, my cousin and her hubby will come up for a round of game night. But it always seems hurried, one or the other of the two always has to work the next day. And, it never fails, that they seem more offended at the mention of appetizers than anything. Who wants to do a game night without freakin' appetizers?? Not moi! Plus, my cousin and her man don't have children. So that makes it tres awkward. We usually schedule game night around Buckwheat's bedtime, so that he isn't stepping on toes. Intermittently, we will head out with these two and go bowling, or just go for dinner and some shopping, but I don't honestly feel like we connect with these guys.

Of course, the ones I do connect with are the 3 couples that never drop by because of location. Location, location, location. *sigh* I think we are doomed.

I think that what makes it worse is the fact that our families never come up to visit. NEVER! My mother hasn't been here in so long that I really wonder if she even knows how to get here. His family drops by rarely, they all have super busy schedules and I'm sure that we are the last things on their minds after a long day of work, shopping, and bar hopping (did I just type that out loud?), along with overly sports active children who are involved in way too many leagues at once.

Anyway, enough of my rant. I would just love to run into a couple who doesn't mind having a 50/50 friendship. I don't mind going out of my way, as long as the same is reciprocated. We do have 1 male friend that we both worked with a year ago, who drops by whenever I e-mail him. He's single, he works too much, but he goes out of his way to drop by if I ask him to. Actually, he dropped down a couple weeks ago and had appetizers and dessert while we played some games, then we all kicked back and watched Number 23. I enjoyed it, and I'm glad that he dropped by. But.. he's single. There wasn't a female for me to relate to, although I get along great with him.

Are we the only couple who have this problem? We need interaction before we fall into a serious slump! Oh, and Sarasponda, if you are reading this.. we need to pick a date for T-Bone and I to make the nearly 4 hour haul up to visit with you. I'll make an exception for you, you don't drive. :)