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[quote=Anonymous]Maybe I'm just not very good at this....It was easy as a young professional when happy hours and other outings naturally happened after work...There was always something social happening.  It seems to have gotten harder as my DH and I and our friends have aged, had kids and found ourselves wrapped up in the kids' activities that require/d us to be present or to take them to/from things.

On top of that, I quit working when it was clear that our kids needed a lot more support with homework, along with anxiety and a bout of depression, and that threw me off as well because I couldn't talk to other moms about my DC's anxiety and depression, and some of those parents kids were part of my kid's woes.... For this and just the other basic factors of chemistry, common interests have made it so that the SAHM world hasn't been an avenue for new friendships.

I have also slowly come to learn that work friendships were probably mostly situational.  (So sad, because you spend so much of your life at work...)  When I do see professional friends, they are still operating in the stereotypical DC transactional, networking mode.  They work their tails off and are desperate for the few precious hours of time with their spouses and kids, so to suggest grabbing coffee or lunch is to take away time they could use to further their work or spend time at home.  I don't begrudge them this, as I know that's how DC is, but I'm therefore cautious about suggesting getting together.  As a SAHM, I am not in a position to help them further their work goals...I've noticed that people are surprised you actually just want to catch up and don't want anything beyond companionship. These aren't bad people, they are simply on the hamster wheel and I don't want to take time away from where they need to be spending their time or seem needy.

Anyway, back to my original question.  For those who seem to be adept at maintaining meaningful friendships, what habits do you have - what efforts do you make to keep the friendship going?  [/quote]

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