I'm not trying to have my own pity party

I know when my husband reads this, he'll tell me I'm just having my own pity party and who cares if I have any close friends or not.  The purpose of me wrting this blog is not to have my own pity party.  Quite frankly, if any of my acquaintances started to try to get closer in the near future, I'd be suspicious that they had read this and were feeling sorry for me.  That's NOT what I want. 

My husband, Charles, says he read somewhere that everyone has a "relationship quota".  This means that once a person has met their "quota", they don't really need any other relationships; therefore, they probably aren't going to work on nurturing any new relationships.  My hope here is that there is not really a "relationship quota" and that people would want to continually add to their circle of friends.  If I'm feeling this way, then I'm fairly certain there are many others who are in my same boat, wishing they had some close friends, or at least one!

I cried myself to sleep last night wondering if I should really keep plugging along, feeling like an outcast or a third (any number would fit here!) wheel, or if I should just withdraw completely.  Neither option really seems to change the situation.    If I didn't have children, it would be quite easy to just withdraw.  However, I DO have children, and I would never want to put myself before them and keep them locked inside my house just so I could withdraw.  This is quite a conundrum for me. 

How DO I change the situation?  I've read several things online about making friends, etc.  I've tried opening up more, I've tried asking people to go out, do things.  Going back to my school days, I moved several times which made it difficult for this shy girl to make close friends and keep them despite the miles between us.  Throughout high school, even, I didn't have a best friend.  I thought maybe in college I'd perhaps have more luck, but once again, I felt myself being alone most of the time.  If this is how my life is supposed to be, then why is it so difficult for me to be happy with it this way?

Today I ask you to try something.  If you have your core group of friends that you're comfortable with, try reaching outside the box.  Invite that quiet person you know out to dinner, coffee, or ice cream.  He/she may just open up and be someone you never knew was there!