Life's Lessons

I've got a new friendship in the works.  I'm always sort of amazed at adult friendships because I don't think that the adult world is set up to facilitate making new friends--at least, not so easy as in the world of education--high school and college--where the potential for meeting new friends is an every day occurrence. 


So I have a new friend in my life.  I found him through, guess what, theatre.  Hmm.  I guess the potential for new friends in theatre is pretty high.  I picked a good avocation.  :-)  

We did a show together last summer.  Throughout this year, we've crossed paths on and off.  He loves theatre and that's where we connect--doing theatre things.  He's helped me with KidsPlay and he's helping me with the Act-Teens.  He's part of the GleeParty gang.  And now, he's slowly becoming a friend of the family.


We talk a lot.  We talk about theatre, about mutual friends and acquaintances, about the shared and separate shows we're doing, about experiences we've had--in college, in teaching.  And in the course of the dialogue, it's interesting to hear his life's lessons come through.  He's, surprise, quite a bit younger than me, but not so young that he hasn't learned a thing or two about life and people.  And what he's learned is different than what I've learned.  And it's interesting to learn about another person's make-up, values, philosophy, sharing experiences, discussing the here and now.


I listen to him when he talks.  When, in the course of conversation, his life's lessons surface, I listen hard to what he's saying and wonder how he came to learn those lessons, some of which I've learned in other ways, some of which I haven't learned and may never.  Or maybe I could learn them vicariously--by listening to him. 

I'm tentative in this new friendship.  I've got a little baggage lately and I'm cautious about how much to put out there.  But he's kind, and helpful, smart and fun; he's comfortable in my mess of a house and with my husband and kids.  It could be a different kind of friendship and a different kind of summer.  And that might be okay.