Meeting people is easy! Right?!

Lately I have been meeting a lot of new people. A lot. In my job, I meet a lot of families. And I am at a new church, so there's a lot of new people to get to know there, too. If you ask me what one of strengths is, I would tell you that I love to meet new people and get to know them, and that I can talk to anyone and make them comfortable.

Here's why life has made that hard for me lately: there are TOO MANY ways to greet people. I've compiled a list of possible greeting options:

• The standard hand shake
• The urban hand shake (I don't know another way to describe this one, it's the one where you grab the hand and curve up the thumb. It's really cool.)
• The urban hand shake and one arm hug
• The urban hand shake and thumb snap release
• The pound
• The pound and blow up release
• The head nod
• The wave
• The side hug
• The full frontal hug
• The double cheek kiss (I just see this on the Real Housewives of New York, so I will include it)
• The slap five
• The high five
• The high five miss fake out low five
• The high five and hold on so you are now shaking hands with your arms raised in the air

I know there are more. But you get the picture. So you get past that initial awkwardness, and then, if you're like me, you immediately want to get past small talk. And as much as I would like that, I have to admit, you can't get past small talk. It would be great to go up to someone and say "Hey, let's skip the small talk. What's your deepest, darkest, secret?" My friend actually tried that tonight with a new person we met, and we said we were kidding. (But we weren't really kidding...it would be great if that worked.)

So there is no such thing as "speed friending." Meeting people isn't easy. Because what I am really afraid of, if I'm being honest, is to let people in right away before they have earned the right to be let in. But isn't that selfish? Most of us NEVER let people know us, regardless of how long we've known them! Some marriages are like this! Imagine knowing someone your whole life and not letting them know you back!

Here's an awkward high five in celebration of awkwardness. Keep being awkward, people. Because we are ALL awkward. And if we get past the awkwardness, we'll realize that we are all trying to do this thing together, and that it is NOT good to be alone.

-Liz