So I have a group of friends I meet with every week to play table top RPG's with. We've been doing this for about seven years now. After this past game I stood around talking with one of them and the topic of how our group came together came up.
One of our friends (who we sadly don't game with anymore due to where he lives and life in general) got permission from Borders book store where he worked to run a monthly game open to the general public. It was a bit of a mess for a while, different people coming and going all the time, but it eventually dwindled down into the group we have today.
Talking about it got me thinking. The only reason I'm with this this group is because a friend from high school heard about it, told my best friend about it, who then told me and begged me to come along so there was someone else she knew. It's one of those crazy happened by chance sort of things, but that wasn't what was on my mind then.
I've always said how glad I was the friend from high school heard about this and passed it on, and how glad I am that despite feeling uncomfortable and at times inferior (there were a few times I considered quitting because I felt I wasn't on the same level as everyone else and didn't fit in) I kept with it. But what came to mind while talking with my friend after game was, where would I be right now had none of that happened?
I'm super shy, and easily intimidated by nature (thank school in general for that one). I'm always afraid I'll somehow make an ass of myself if I approach new people, or that they'll simply take one look at me and want nothing to do with me. So it's something I generally avoid doing if possible. Because of that, had I not net this group, I honestly think I would be a much different person.
In the seven years I've known this group I've had four jobs (counting the two I currently have) and there's not one person I've worked with that I would call a 'friend.' Sure I got/get along with many of my co-workers, and liked/like many of them, but they're not someone I would hang out with on the weekend.
As for friends from school, I've lost touch with many of them, and the couple I do talk to it's infrequent. Had I never met this group I would be a very lonely, depressed person, and honestly am a little afraid of how I could have been.
So to those friends; xobmaps, windborn297, tenkenryu, mylittlespambox, and to the ones I can't tag (and don't feel right posting their names), thank you. Thank you for not turning me away in the beginning, for accepting me and my severe lack of skills, for working with me to help me understand, and all around for simply putting up with me.
I love all of you more than I could ever express, and I will forever be grateful to have all of you in my life.