Friday, March 19, 2010

A Swedish Friend? Say it ain't so!

Last weekend hubby was making snow forts for the little guy in our front yard when he noticed a blonde woman 2 doors down and caught her eye. She stared, he smiled, waved and said, "Hi. We're new here." She stared some more and said, "Wait right there." Hubby didn't have his glasses on. 30 second later she was hugging him.

Our new neighbour just so happens to be a girl we worked with over 10 years ago! Don't get too weirded out. We were working for a Swedish company at the time but living in Canada. Still...holy crap!

I drove in the driveway, back from a quick trip to the store and hubby runs over with his shovel, "You'll never guess who our neighbour is!" She's 2 years younger than me and has a daughter a little less than a year younger than ours and a 6-year old son. SCORE!

I saw her a few hours later over the fence and we started chatting. I said, "We need to get together for coffee." And then I thought that the likelihood of that happening was slim to none and so I got bold and proclaimed, "We're gonna head over to the park tomorrow morning. We'll come knocking if you want to come."

The next morning, I fretted and panicked a little, trying to figure out a good time to knock. 10 is too early. 10:30? Nah...10:45? perfect. Far enough after breakfast and far enough away from lunch. Done.

I rang, we walked, we talked, we took the kids sledding. Turns out she is Ms. Uppsala and I met half the neighbourhood in the short distance between our houses and the park. Striking GOLD!

It was fun. I tried my best to balance between, "Please be my friend. I'm so desperate for more estrogen in my life!" and "Yeah, whatever." We parted ways and I thought..."How will I get up the nerve to ask her out again?" Yup, just like dating.

And then Thursday night, I got a text around 8:45pm. Noone texts me that late. It was her, asking if I like Grey's Anatomy and if I wanted to hop over to her house to watch it over a glass of wine. Say WHAT? I've never watched that show, but I'd watch a documentary on Dairy Farms in Minnesota if it meant snagging a friend in Sweden.

It was fun. Even with a little wine in me, I think I managed to leave a good impression. We know many of the same people and she's a tiny little ball of blonde fun.

Now it's the weekend and it's on me again. hmmmmm...coffee and a playdate here or keep it neutral at the park? I've already decided that when hubby is away next week, I plan to have a "Come over for a glass of wine after the kids are asleep" night with her and some mutual "friends".

Seriously freaking out here. Olive branches have been extended. Now it's up to me to evenly space out the doses of "Jenn" for fear of scaring off my prey. Please wish me luck and pray I catch my prey!

8 comments:

septembermom said...

That's terrific Jenn! Sounds like you have a great friendship starting. I'm so glad that you found a buddy. Hanging out watching Grey's together is fun.

Anonymous said...

haha i love your writing
keep it up girl.

Gamma-ray said...

lmao!!! oh jen!! i adore you soo much!! Like anon says, you're witting is so much fun, and purely honest!! <3<3

a swedish friend you say!?!?! a REAL ONE!!! you've beat us all!! hahahaha

<3 XOXO!~

SwedishJenn said...

Awww...thanks guys (blushing). Glad you're enjoying my rants. And yes, she is REALLY SWEDISH! Ok, so I cheated a wee bit in that I knew her before but STILL! Now let's see if I can reel her in for a walk tomorrow :-)

Hyacynth said...

Lol, you crack me up. So does that mean you will watch the documentary on dairy farms with me if I invite you over sometime? :)
So happy you found a friend.

And also, call her. Don't let the three day rule deter you.

Anonymous said...

Wish you the best of luck, keep us updated about the progress,please.
Boy! look at us, maybe we should form a club and name it "I'm desperate! Would you be my friend?" on facebook. lol

SwedishJenn said...

@Hyacynth: Thanks for the advice. Done!
@Tod: I agree, there needs to be a support group here in Sweden. I've already been offered to head up a get-together over at Hairy Swede's blog because of my woeful rants on his "The Elusive Swedish Friend" post awhile back...ha!

Rebecca said...

Having had similar situations happen to me right here in America (I think the Swedes merely formalized it haha!) I'm glad for anybody who has a "break through" in friendship. (employment too for that matter, one need only look at the "who you know" mentality of Louisiana) I can imagine it feels that much worse out of one's homeland. At least over here, you can leave the city or state in question much faster. :D