Making Mommy Friends

Over the past few weeks, a good friendship has blossomed between myself and "N", a cool woman my age with a daughter near my son's age.  We met at a neighborhood new mom's group, and she introduced me to the local library's story time for kids.  Then, we began hanging out outside of the group setting, getting coffee, walking to the playground, etc.

It has been SO GREAT having a friend who is in a similar place in her life.  All of my friends either had their children years ago, when we were all in our early twenties, or  they don't have children at all.  I have had a very hard time forging friendships with women I share interests with, let alone that live in my neighborhood.

But making a new friend turned out to be a bit stressful.  I could not believe how hard I was thinking about my next move with this new friendship.  I joked with my husband that it was as if I were back on the dating scene.  You don't want to call or email too soon, you'll seem too eager.  But you don't want to wait to long and seem too aloof.  All the delicate foot work of a dating relationship was playing out in my new friendship.  Wasn't it so nice when we were kids and we just walked up to one another on the playground, asked, "Wanna play?" and that was it. 


Why is making new friends as an adult so difficult?  Do you also have this kind of trouble?