Friendly vs making friends

People always described me as a friendly and approachable person.  But lately I found myself getting less inclined to make new friends.  Most of my friends are made during the school days or they are my working colleagues.  Some of them are from my ex church cell group but not a lot from the new church that we are currently attending. 

I was sharing with hubby that I am too lazy to make new friends.  Reason being that I am so busy that I am emotionally and mentally drained everyday to make the effort.  From what I heard previously, there are 4 stages of relationship.  It starts with introduction whereby people share basic information like their names, what they are doing, single or married etc.  Then when feasible, it can move to the acquaintance stage where you know a bit more about the other person.  It will take some efforts before the relationship can move on to the friendship stage and lastly the stage of intimacy.  This is where I fail miserably.  Most people I met recently stay in the acquaintance stage.  I found myself not motivated to share more or spend more time to get the know them better.  I just wanted to hole up with my family ( kids, siblings etc) or just want to spend a bit more time with the old friends then to spend time to know the new people that I had met.  Maybe I am shy?  Or just plain lazy?   

So one can be friendly but when it comes to making friends, it will take more than that!

I know I should go out and make new friends.  But I also know that I should cut back on the fast food and have more veg instead.  So being so human, I just cannot bring myself to do the right thing. 

changes

Mom in law had some problem with the maid and the decision was to send the maid back to the agent.  Without a maid at their place, hubby and I were of the opinion that the two old folks will not be able to handle a hyperactive toddler.  My bro in law agreed too.  So we have to make alternative childcare arrangements.

The two older gals have to go to my mom place after school which is much further.  Elkan will attend full day childcare again.  My heart broke when he looked at me with pitiful eyes when he realized that he will be staying at the childcare instead of being home.  But I have no other choice.  The morning traffic coming out from my mom place is always jammed and the first time that we tried, it took us 30 min to get from the Hougang area to Upp Serangoon road.  Paul and I were very late for work on that day.  Thus Elkan can’t stay with my mom in the morning.  So he will come back at about 5pm everyday.  The gals, especially Ariel kept asking for him as they are very close.  And I had to explained to her why Elkan has to go back to the childcare.

I had also decided to cancel the dinner tingkat delivery service as the choice of food was not always suitable for the kids.  And Elkan only wanted the rice , no vegs, no meat or fish.  He is what we call a “rice bucket” in chinese.   So I will cook the kids dinner as I know their likes and dislikes. 

So now all of us are trying to get used to the changes.  And we pray that everything will work out well!