Make New Friends...

I've been meaning to blog about my garden for a few weeks now, but I've been so busy that I just haven't managed to do so. I also want to take some pictures of the tomato trellis system I devised a few years back, but again, that time issue...

I had a late dinner and chat session with some lovely women from my dance studio this evening after class. The entire experience got me to stop and think about why I have such a hard time making new friends. I meet wonderful people all the time, but for some reason, those connections never seem to last. Even people I associate with frequently for several months at a time; eventually those relationships just seem to dissolve. My current group of friends I have known either since high school or my first year of college. Is it really so hard to forge lasting friendships in this area? Is it the fact that I am a young mother (or just a mother at all)? I feel like the whole DC-area population is superficially nice, but has problems opening up beyond casual conversation. I'm sure I come across the same way, but I don't know if I'm taking cues from other people, or if we have all just erected personal boundary walls that keep us from taking that next step.

Over dinner, we were talking about food (really, when don't I talk about food), and everyone seemed really interested in planning an evening of cooking and eating good food together. This is something I would love to do, but I know these women only from dance class, so I don't know if I should take the leap and invite everyone to my house. It almost seems too good to be true - a chance to step beyond that fence and truly get to know someone. I just don't want to get my hopes up on something that turns out to be general politeness.

So what's a shy (and socially awkward) mom to do?