New friends

My biggest fear in moving to a new city, and the reason I could never do it until now, has always been..."But I wouldn't know anyone there."

Close friends and people in general are my life. 

But time after time, everyone kept telling me, "but you'd meet people."

And I really have. It has been a huge learning experience for me, a way to step out of my comfort zone, and a life lesson to pay forward. People here have been out-of-the-way welcoming, inviting, and helpful.

If I could give anyone moving to a new city a piece of advice, it would be: reach out to your old friends for help in making new friends.

I emailed every person I knew in October and asked if they had any connections in Denver. From that email, I probably got 30 connections. I emailed every single one of them, introducing myself, and asking for some help (school districts, places to live, snow tires, etc). Most of the conversations continued all the way until July when I moved out here, emailed again, and said, "I live here now...can I buy you a beer?" 

From meeting these people came..."My friends and I are going on a hut trip this weekend, wanna come?" Or "I host a Spanish practice night at my house every month, you should come" or "Oh, I know an ESL teacher in DPS, here is her email."

A part I am kind of struggling with right now is that I want them to be all deep, call at 3am friendships right away and that just isn't how it works. They are all acquaintances, and will grow with time. So when I need deep, I call you. :)

But in the end, I feel very lucky to have met a lot of great people in 3 weeks in a city to which I moved knowing just one person. 

Here they are...

Great family friends from growing up on Washington Brice Road in Fair Oaks.
I used to babysit for their kids "Little Katie" and Greg, and here is Kim and Joe (and my parents).
They live in Colorado Springs.

These are my other family friends from Washington Brice Rd - The Millers.
They chose not to have children but really should have and love to have me around.
They live in Fort Collins but have a condo in the mountains and love driving around.

Sarah Ruzic - Michelle Coleman/Murphy's friend. We were both in Michelle's wedding together in 2008.
She was here for the summer but sadly left a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed her while I could!

John - friend of Erin Bullock, who I was in Missy's wedding with this past year.
He is similar to my brother Jason where everything is amazing and awesome and life is good.
Fun friend to have. 

Natrisha is on the left - friend from Arlington who was visiting some of her friends in Denver this summer.
But luckily I got to meet those friends! Jeff is on the right and he is married to Danielle. Not pictured is her other friend, Emi, who is also great!

More of Natrisha's friends at the Brad Paisley concert. Sorry it's so fuzzy.
A certain substance was recently legalized in this state. 

This is Ashley Shapiro. She is Valerie, a 3rd grade teacher at Fairhill's daughter.
She helped me figure out where to live because she lives in Uptown!

This is a guy who was in Ryan and Raf's fraternity, Phi Delt.
He is friends with Peter Fort Collins and has an amazing loft with the view you see in the background.
I invite myself over often. (Peter Fort Collins not pictured.)

This is a Fairhill student, Sophia, who I randomly ran into while on a run in my neighborhood.
We both stopped to pet the dog you see in the background, looked up, saw each other, were confused
for a good 10 seconds, and then jumped up and down and hugged.
She was visiting her grandparents. 

This is Brennan, the only person I really knew (not just through emailing) when I moved out here.
She is friends with Missy and lived in DC for a year or two. 

Remember "Little Katie" that I mentioned above?
She is not so little anymore!!

This is Keghley. My friend Kara, has a friend named Jacquie, who has a friend named Keghley
who moved to Denver this summer to adventure and try a new city. Kara and Jacquie decided
we should meet. So we did. And did a fun run at a brewery downtown, and had a beer afterwards.
And are new great friends!

I haven't met everyone that you all put me in contact with so I promise to post more pictures as I meet them!

But thank you for bringing these new great people to my life!