Letting go

This afternoon I decided to give up on being friendly to my fellow dorm residents. Aside from some very nice times with my brother and his family, it had been a long, lonely weekend. I slid my tray through the cafeteria line, opting for, I'm pretty sure, the roast yak, then shuffled off to the least crowded corner of the dining hall, where I picked at my food and sulked.

Looking up a few minutes later, I saw Lance (my Chicago friend) and Cheryl (from Cameroon) heading my way, asking if they could join me. I owned up to my being cranky and homesick. Turns out Cheryl is homesick, too. We had a nice conversation, comparing notes about our workloads, families, and weekends. I quit worrying about the groups of students who appear to have come to summer school as a distinct and impermeable group and remembered the advice Steve and I have always given to our kids:

You don't have to be the most popular kid in the school. All you really need is a couple of good friends.

To be honest, today's cafeteria incident also makes me wonder if I should pick at my food and sulk more often. At least when they're serving up the yak.

Note: I stole the yak joke from my brother-in-law Dave, who also hooked me up with a deluxe Frito-Lay assortment. Suddenly I feel like packing a lunch.