Hidden rainbow
Hidden as in, I did’t notice it when I was taking the photo!
I was walking to the train and looked up and thought “that’s an interesting perspective of the Sears Tower,” so I quickly snapped the picture and kept walking. Then saw the rainbow later when I was looking at the photo! Fun surprise!
I had a classmate in high school named Rainbow. She said her mom was drowning in a lake and a Native American named Rainbow saved her. So she named her daughter after her.
Ahh, high school friendships. I was never part of a group. Or, “squad,” as people are now calling it. Do people really say squad, seriously – not to be funny? The term sounds so NOT inclusive to me. It seems like another word for a clique. Maybe that’s not how it’s intended?
Anyway, I was the same way in college – I had one or two friends who weren’t part of the same group (and those relationships quickly dissolved after college, naturally).
As an adult, I’ve belonged to bigger groups – and interaction with them has left me drained. I do best in one on one or in (VERY) small groups! I’m “squad”-less and that’s what works for me. My closest friends know or know of each other, but in no sense are we a group. Part of that may be because no one is in the same geographical area. I wonder if it would change if we were. Hmm.
And… all this thought from a rainbow! Ha! You guys know I love to talk about (and read about) relationships. And hopefully this doesn’t sound like I am knocking having a close knit group of friends that all hangs out together! I actually know several adults who have crews (<— apparently that’s the word that comes to me for it) like that, and they get a lot of joy from it!
Themocracy
Whenever I hear kids say ‘squad’ it makes me think of cheerleaders. Kids local to me also say ‘crew’ because apparently that is more tough guy? I have always been the person that is friends with all kinds of people. I don’t judge. I don’t care if you and all my other friends get along and I won’t pretend to like someone because they are part of a group.
Now as an adult I have a very limited group of close friends. They are mostly runner friends or people that like to be fit. I don’t like hanging out with people that bring the constant negative vibe about something I am very passionate with. Plus runner friends understand when I don’t want to be out late on the weekend so I can get up to run! 🙂
Ha! I can totally get thinking that for squad! And I didn’t know that about crew 😉 I have tried to remain friends with people who don’t get along and it didn’t work out. That is good that it does for you 🙂
I had a friend who was really negative about something I liked and I just didn’t get why they made the effort to be such a jerk about it. Definitely ditch those people!
Cool accidental rainbow photo! Squad sounds like some sort of organized team to me instead of a more organic group of people. I do best with one on one interactions or small groups too. I think I tend to get overwhelmed with big groups.
Thanks!
Good point – squad DOES seem forced. Like I see people posting #squadgoals, etc. And I don’t get if they are being funny or not. Ha ha, me so old.
I can’t believe how much big groups DRAIN me. And with how busy I feel, I’d rather spend time with people/small groups that energize me!
I’ve never really had a group of friends, either. I definitely didn’t have a group of friends in high school (which was rough! I went to a small school, with about 100 people per grade, and just about everyone belonged to one group or another, but I never managed to get into one. I had friends in different groups, but I was never part of “the group.”), and I didn’t really in college, either. My roommates from my senior year and I were kind of a group, but that group only formed during my senior year, and I barely even try to keep up with any of them anymore, let alone actually hang out with them. And here, in my “grown up” life in Chicago, I wouldn’t say that I really belong to one group, either. I’m definitely part of the group of my dance friends, and part of the group of my running friends, but there’s certainly no overlap between those two groups, and it’s not like we all get together on weekends on do things or whatever. Sometimes we hang out outside of the activity that brought us together, but not all that often (and with my running friends, when we do get together outside of runs, it’s really only during marathon season, and it’s either to carb load before a long run or for breakfast after a run…so we’re not running, but it’s still running related). But the people my age that I know who do have groups of friends, all their friends are the group they had in college, not a group of friends they made as adults (or whatever you want to call us twentysomethings haha).
I was thinking about how I am in groups like that too – for example, where I teach – but we also don’t hang out on weekends, etc. (At least, I don’t!)
The adults I know in these groups were formed after college though! Well, two were 🙂 I think the other one was school friends then the group got bigger as people got married.
I definitely don’t feel like I need it! It sounds like you don’t either, as you enjoy doing things by yourself, like going to the game (just makes me think you aren’t yearning for more interaction, as I am not).
Haha, your accidental rainbow photo reminds me of this story my dad has. He and his “man friends” did this day hike, and at the top of the mountain, they were taking photos of themselves. Then later, they looked up (This was before digital cameras, so they couldn’t see the photos right away.) and saw that there was a bra hanging from the tree branch above their heads. They were really amused.
I did have a “squad” in high school; I mostly hung out with other Asians, and it actually felt really, really great because it was the first time I’d had a group of friends who looked like me. And in college, I heard that a friend was trying to “break into” my unintentional friendship trio by trying to figure out the weakest link in our group. I was not the weakest link, apparently.
Ha, that is really funny! It should be part of one of those awful sites where you click on to see the hidden part of the image, then the page is so full of spam and you can’t find the arrow, and don’t make it through many pics because you get so frustrated. LOL.
LOL, could your trio not handle another person? That is really odd. The way you describe it makes me think she didn’t make it in?!
I’m very much the opposite! I have lots of groups of friends, and have overlapped them via parties and gatherings so many times over the years that all my friends now know each other and are independently friends, and I basically have one giant spiderweb of friends that I sit in or near the center of. I love it that way! 😀
That is awesome that it worked out that way for you!!! That used to be my urge, and I would do that… but got mixed results and don’t do it anymore! LOL!!!
Accidental rainbow picture – very cool!
I can relate very much to your friendship style…I also have several very close individual friendships and none of my friends really know each other. Being in a group is overwhelming to me, too. But for my 50th birthday this fall, I’ve decided that I want to host my five best friends here all together at one time, and I’m kind of looking forward to it, even though it might be a bit awkward, at first.
Ooo!!!! Even though you guys aren’t a group now, it will be fun! Are you thinking a party at your place or a few days together?
That is a nice view, and the rainbow is pretty! Totally didn’t notice one the other night!
Squad sounds ridiculous. I had a group from the end of senior year in high school until I moved out of Ohio. It was a lot of fun when we’d all get together (and we still do if everyone is in town.. with several kids in tow these days), but I think big groups like that are hard to maintain once you grow up, have jobs, families, etc.
And I’ve always preferred smaller groups/one-on-one interactions to big groups too… I usually end up feeling overwhelmed and, as you said, drained. That’s why I like our double dates so much – they’re just the right amount of socializing 🙂
Me either!
Aww, that is fun to have your group grow and see how everyone’s lives have changed! Totally a pita to coordinate though. LOL.
Yes! I think our double dates are the perfect amount too! And it’s super cool that our personalities all mesh so well. I don’t have a long list of friends where I want to hang with their partner, either! Not being mean, it just doesn’t always click!
I had groups of friends but I was also friendly with people outside those groups in both high school and college. I didn’t really discriminate and would talk to/be friends with anyone. My closest friends now are more like a crew though. There are 5 of us that get together pretty regularly and a few others who join us from time to time.
Speaking of Rainbow as a name, have you ever read any books by Rainbow Rowell?
I hope “squad” doesn’t imply that you can only be friends with people in that group! That would be lame-town!
I haven’t! Who’s that?
I tend to do best with smaller groups, too. I get so overwhelmed and overstimulated so easily by big groups of people. And I just feel like I get lost in big groups because I get real quiet, haha. Small groups are my favorite!
Yep! I am so not a quiet person, but that large groups make me be quiet and want to retreat… shows me how NOT right they are for me!