Comfort Friends

I was on the chapel worship team in college. I loved it because I learned to be a better singer and I had some incredible times with Jesus as a result of the combination of singing His praise and fully depending on Him to ease my nerves. The other people on the team were awesome, and I made some great friends there.

Hey, here's one of those friends - Clausen!

All that said, I was never fully comfortable in that group. I was intimidated by the fact that I was the least musically gifted person on the team. (This is absolutely not me fishing for compliments, nor did anyone on the team ever make me feel lesser - it's just a fact, and I was totally fine with it.) I was also intimidated by the fact that many of the people on the team were just ridiculously cool and many had similar quirky senses of humor that I didn't always fully get. Basically, chapel worship team tended to give me the unnecessary insecurity of a junior higher. 


My junior year of college, I was also a Resident Assistant. This meant that I constantly hung out in our dorm's lounge - manning the snack bar, playing ping pong, watching TV, or just hanging out. I freaking loved our dorm. My fellow Resident Assistants were all incredible, and I adored the residents too. It was your basic ball o' squishy feelings in Armington Halls. 

We still love each other after college. Here are some of us
Armington RAs at Andrea's amazing wedding in 2007.

One night, I went to a worship team party. We had a good time singing, laughing, hanging out. When I left, though, I noticed that I was kind of exhausted from not fully being myself. I was always either trying a little too hard at those things or just being quiet, which is equally tiring for me. I decided that I'd just drop into the Armington Lounge and maybe catch a game of ping pong or say hi to whoever was on duty there. When I walked in, there was a group of about five people gathered around a  giant tub of that cheap but delicious generic rainbow sherbet that you can find at drugstores. They all looked up when I entered, and they all said "Emily!" like I was Norm from Cheers. One of the guys held up a spoon, and I joined the group, relaxed and comfortable with these friends. 


I can't explain how thoroughly that little moment warmed my awkward little heart. 


Ever find yourself unable to get comfortable with perfectly wonderful people?  Or have you ever been surprised to feel at home with a group of friends?