Learning how to make friends

Monday was the 4th of July.  I spent the better part of the day at my neighbors house.  She invited a few families from around the way.  The kids had a great time playing with their friends and I did too - because, you see when I was growing up... I had no friends.  I don't think I had friends until I hit high school.  I didn't need any.  I had 20 cousins who all lived on the same block.  We ate together, slept together, played together - we vacationed together - we were always together.  They were my friends - they were my playmates - they were my summer.  It was natural to me that my children would grow up the same way - with all of their cousins around... but circumstances out of my control dictated otherwise.  My children have no cousins to play with.  Their oldest cousin is never around and my sister moved away - so their closest cousins are far, far away.  Don't get me wrong - we do get to see the cousins and we try to spend as much time together as we can-  but as far as the daily grind - it's friends that we play with - not cousins.  This is so hard for me.  It is foreign.  It is weird.  When I was growing up it was the Americans that had friends.  The non-Italians who ate white bread and things like Sloppy Joes.   Us Italians all lived together - we didn't need anyone else.  It was kind of closed minded and inside the box - but that's just the way we lived.  It's not that we didn't want friends - it's just that we were so consumed by the family events that we didn't need any friends.  Our family was so big and loud that we probably scared away any potential friend anyway. 
I am thankful for all of the friends I spent time with Monday night.  I felt happy and loved and my kids had a blast.  I was excited to make future plans for this week - again to hang out with friends.  These people are filling in for my family.  They are taking on the role of "aunt" and "uncle", "cousin" and "brother" with just a few extra formalities.  As we sat around chatting - I couldn't help but remember my mother sitting with my Aunts and Uncles... chatting.  We could be them... without the family ties and I am OK with that. 
I am so thankful for my neighbor, Christine.  I love that we share coffee and juicy stories on a daily basis.  I love that my kids feel as comfortable in her house as they do in mine and vice versa.  I love that our husbands work on projects together and help each other out all the time.  She and her family are filling in a huge void in my life - and they do it perfectly.  I can always count on her and I hope she would say the same about me.
It's amazing... but I think I am finally learning how to make friends... something I should have learned in Kindergarten.