Birds of a Feather

 “Being a nerd, which is to say going too far and caring too much about a subject, is the best way to make friends I know.” – Sarah Vowell

You would think that at my age I would know how to make good friends. But, the older I get I have found that good friends are hard to come by. The kind of friends that understand you, that get you. I have also learned that you really can’t expect one person to satisfy every need. You are probably thinking, “Wow, you could really use some IEP goals in SEL.”

Look, if I’m in my 50’s and it’s taken me this long to figure these things out, can you imagine how are students are faring? ELA classes often address these issues, and again, for someone who reads for a living and for fun, you would think I would be better at making friends.

The above quote for some reason really resonnated with me. I know we are all zoomed out, but zoom allowed me to connect with people who care too much about the same topics I care about. Zoom meetings allowed me to meet with a writing group and a playwriting group. I felt like I finally met my ‘people.’ I felt less alone. If you know anything about being in a writing or poetry group, you know that you often share some of the deepest, darkest secrets of your life through your writing. There is an agreement, not necessarily tacit, that you will keep the confidences of the members of your group. Free therapy!

Friends are a true blessing! Who are your ‘nerdy’ friends? What do you care too much about?