Happiness day #5

I don't have a lot of friends here yet, at least not friends my age. I have K., who is also my neighbor. Every Friday we invite her over to share dinner with us. She never says yes. She came for a Saturday lunch a couple of times.  Sshe seems to love my food. I mean, what's not to love? It's good food! She's not a cook. Her stove isn't even working. She heats TV dinners in a microwave because that's who she is. Like everybody else though she likes homemade food. But she feels too self-conscious to come to dinner because she can't reciprocate.  She says she's like that because she's from New England.

I understand, but it's mighty frustrating. My husband and I come from cultures where dinners with friends are the norm. We love to share our food. We feel lonely and weird sitting there all by ourselves. We'd rather have company.

You're probably asking yourselves what this has to do with happiness? This: I'm making a happiness resolution. Tomorrow we will go to the city and buy a table. I will also reupholster the six dining chairs that I got off craigslist. And then I will invite people over - not just K., but other people I met this Fall at the new faculty orientation. I'll invite Greg the astrophysicist for lunch-  he seems to have a special needs child. Even though  his head is firmly in the sand on this issue, I think it's going to be much easier for him to bring the kid over to my house, as opposed to a household with a normie child.

Also, it goes without saying that y'all are invited if you're ever in my neck of the woods. I mean it. We're very informal (although somewhat weird, too).