I am an immigrant, not a real member of the club. A pre-brexit interloper.
I hail from a former fishing town in Denmark but for romantic reasons moved deep into the Yorkshire Dales in 2015. Apart from the insane (!!!) amount of rain and tragic lack of saltwater (I suspect I’m part Selkie/Kraken, if you ask the husband) I do love it here. Yorkshire humour is very Viking.
HOWEVER
Seeing as I am a grown axx woman making new friends and building up a network is not as easy as it was when I moved to Germany when I was 19. I already had friends ... Friends I loved more than life, back in Denmark. Over the last seven years I have slowly but steadily met women (mostly, a couple of men too) who I know over time will be to me what my oldest friends are. Funnily enough two of them are Danish. And it is not because they are Danish we are friends, but because they are incredible human beings.
I have become the 'auntie' to five children, and the 'sister' to one. 'Seasister' to another. I am blessed. By wonderful human beings who have taken me into their lives and entered mine too. But I'm still an interloper. And that is ok. I get it.
Sometimes I get lonely and want to cuddle up with friends and my grown children in Denmark. Feel that complete hygge where trust is so ingrained in the relationship, no talking is needed.
But then I feel ungrateful... I should be super happy for what I have here. And I am. But I can't show up unannounced and just hang out. Maybe I am too old for that. Is that it? Or is it just a matter of cultural differences?
Anyways. A while ago I met a woman I instinctively knew I would love to be friends with. And I didn't quite know how to go about it. Plus I am 50. Basically I could die of old age any moment now (a quote from my best mate Bruce who I sadly lost during covid) So I needed to speed things up.
Hence the note
How do you make new friends?
Can I come to your house and just hang?
Am I being a fool?
Will you move to Denmark with me?
#oldashouses
#friendships
#femalefriendships
#love
#gratitude
#willyoubemyfriend
#hygge
#hygsomt
#immigrant
#sussilouisesmith
#theenglishare...
#yorkshire
#danishgirlinyorkshire
#writingcommunity
#shewrites
