The Friend You Haven’t Met

A friend I’ve known for 10 or more years from our days in Dallas recently moved to Corsicana with her husband. We’ve begun getting together at one of our lovely downtown coffee shops for a catch up - to hear how renovations are going on the historic home the two of them bought, changes with mine and Houston’s business and to talk about our families.

My friend has moved a lot over the course of her life and has gone through the process of meeting people, of being “the new person in the room,” as she says, more times than she can count.

This week, over cups of English breakfast tea, she shared how friendly the folks in our downtown shops have been to her and her husband. When she walks into a shop, the greeting goes something like this, “Hi. I haven’t met you before. Are you new in town?” It was encouraging to hear of the outgoing nature of many of our locals. 

It made me think about my own friendliness and how I’m interacting with people. I have to admit there have been a lot of days recently when I haven’t had the energy to go out of my way to meet new people. Too often I’ve caught myself walking into a local business head down, with the intent of accomplishing a task, whether that’s to purchase clothing, a gift or a pastry. 

But what would happen if I looked up and engaged with someone - someone I don’t know. I’m not talking about in a weird way. It could be something like: “Hi, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here. I’m Sherry Clark.” That’s not super intimidating. And it could be the springboard for a short conversation about how long they’ve lived here or where they’re traveling from. It could also turn into a friendship. 

I met an Atlanta friend (we moved from the greater Atlanta area in 2012) when taking our dog for a walk. We spent many fun afternoons talking in her kitchen or going out to lunch. Another person- a local - introduced herself when we were selling produce downtown five years ago. Our friendship has become very dear to me. 

My point is that you don’t know who you might meet IF you take the all important first step of saying hello. May we all make a point of doing this more. Who knows who we’ll meet?

This piece first appeared in Sherry’s column, Finding Myself in a Small Town, in the September 14, 2024 edition of the Corsicana Daily Sun.