making friends

I remember making friends when I was a child...

sometimes it was through my parents,
or in school,
sometimes the kids were far away so we didn't see one another much,
but there were the kids I met on my street
some of whom were not the nicest people on earth, but
there were always those I felt akin to...

we'd walk and talk, or sit and talk at first...

then came exchanging bits of a picnic lunch with one another...

usually it happened when the weather was beginning get warm...

summer was that time to explore new things
and to get to know one another as well...

there were hours in a day to do it
and noone interrupting...

I think, sometimes, about
how as I got older
it got harder to do that...

to really get to know someone

hard to make friends in school because of the time limits
and the "no talking" rules
and the attention needing to be on the job...

Hard to get to know someone
only seeing them in controlled places...

if I got to know someone from school
it was because I went home on the bus with them
and they did the same thing...

and we went off somewhere to talk
and share things
and were always interested
as we got to know one another
and did little things together

as an adult,
most of the time, I'd meet people in certain settings
like at work,
or a club of some kind
sometimes just passing in the supermarket,
or doctor's office...
only seeing one another in that one particular way
in a controlled setting

except when I was a homemaker and mother
back when there were still a lot of other women who were too
and we visited one another at home
when we had time
but even then
usually there were the time limits,
other people demanding attention
important matters to think about at the time
and interruptions when wanting to hold a real conversation...

you know,
sitting in a public place with another person
just wanting to get to know them
as a person
and maybe sharing lunch
before heading back to work,
isn't at all the same thing as sitting on a rock by a pond
exchanging half a tuna sandwich for half a PBJ
in your swampy sneekers and fagged out jeans
where there's noone else around
only nature watching and listening
as you share your secret hopes and fears
and laughing for stupid reasons...
with the only interruption being when there was a skinned knee
or the dinner hour beckoned...

back when I was a kid

and there was summer break

time out

for life