Making Friends After 35 as a Mom and Introvert

Taking the bold leap from texting to purposefully hanging out

Yesterday I was brave. I did it. I had lunch with a mom friend that I briefly interacted with over a month ago in the Barnes and Noble Children’s Section.

Photo Credit: UnSplash

See, I am an introvert but I manage to be pretty good at being spontaneously or unintentionally social in small, quiet, let’s face it, nerdy spaces. Spaces where it is safe to talk about nerdy things, deep things, book things, and mom things.

And there’s really no better safer space to talk to anyone than in a bookstore.

In our brief first interaction we talked about what books we like, what books our kids like, how it feels to be a mom when your kids get older and maybe don’t want to snuggle with you anymore, racism, classism, higher education, bullying, and we found out we were both born in Michigan.

We bonded.

Then, we texted for a bit. And I think this is how mom friends are made. Or maybe any friends after you reach the age of 35.

On making mom friends and introvert spaces

My first mom friend lives in my soul forever. There’s no one like her in the world. We met at an Art Museum Gift Shop (note this also meets the…