When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to grow up. I thought that adult life seemed way easier, and infinitely cooler.  I’m lucky enough to report that this childhood perspective is pretty accurate most days, and for that I’m quite grateful.  One thing that came easily as a kid was making friends, as I was somehow fortunate enough to be accepted into a group of amazing girlfriends in junior high/high school; I still connect with most of them on social media and am really close to two of them, in spite of the miles between.  The point is, I thought that making friends would be one of the easy pieces of childhood that would seamlessly transition into adulthood.  I quickly realized that this was not the case, especially once I got married and had another person to consider.

Nicholas and I have made a variety of friends over the last ten years, but it’s always been difficult to find couple friends we really connect with without significant effort.   Not that I expect everything to come easy in life, but it is pretty fantastic when you meet people who are just easy to love.

It all started with my first blog, a bocce ball court, and an unexpected reader.

An old friend from Atlanta stumbled across my blog one day, recognized the bocce ball court I wrote about in my post about our new house, and “Facebook-ed” me.  Turns out, his girlfriend lives just a couple miles from us, and they knew the exact area where we’d just bought our place.  We reconnected over pizza one night, and it wasn’t long before we met his girlfriend, totally clicked, and were hanging out like old friends.

I love that they know the house code and use it–no need for door bells.  They bring the dog over periodically, and while I’m not really an animal person anymore, I love being on  “pooch patrol.” There’s no pretention, whether we’re going for a power walk or to a New Year’s Eve party. One minute we’re laughing over grizzly bears and face planting, and the next we’re sharing family concerns, solving the world’s problems, and scheming items on our bucket list.

We recently took a little jaunt to Atlantis for the Super Bowl and some beach time, and after a decade of traveling alone, we made it a couples trip. Best. Decision. Ever.  You know you’re bona fide friends when you can travel together for days, sans annoyance, and start planning the next vacation on the ride home.

Life’s just better with friends who feel like family.