Like jr. high, but with less acne

I'm beginning to wonder if I've been blackballed.

We had a meeting to go to this week and while waiting for my husband afterward, I found myself in the awkward position of being in conversations where people were making plans for double dates and getting together and making time to get to know each other better. It all sounds good except that I was neither the inviter nor the invitee. Please understand - I do not expect everyone's plans to include me!! It was just uncomfortable. At one point, one of the inviters did turn to me and say, "Oh...yeah...maybe the four of us could get together for a double date sometime. Yeah. That would be...er...fun?"

I don't want to be the last one picked for the team. Nor do I want to be considered an obligation.

There are several people I have tried to connect with this year - through email, in person, on the phone...all in the hope of getting to know them better and perhaps developing a true friendship. My calls and emails have gone unanswered.

Yesterday I very nearly gave a local church (not my own) a lecture on customer service because I had called and emailed multiple times, trying to find out when their AWANA program was starting for the year. My kids went there last year and are eager to go back. No one ever responded! I finally got someone on the phone yesterday who could answer and it's probably just as well that I held my tongue. What if I didn't go to church anywhere? What if I was considering trying that church? Why would I even want to if you can never connect with someone there??

I don't expect anyone to have answers - and believe me, I do realize that all of us are busy people. We all have to sacrifice to make time for relationships. I get that. I also acknowledge that it is much harder to connect and get together with people when you are married with children than it was as a single or newly-married-with-no-kids person.

But really. I've had enough with the blackball thing.