"I'm guessing you commute a lot"

I'm a sales rep. That's my job. I'm the image of the 1950s man with a suit and a briefcase who moves from door to door, knocking and hoping that he'll be invited in to display his fabulous products. Except I am not a man and this is not 1950. With the sales rep territory (ha! get it? I said "territory" -- a little rep humor...sorry.), comes loneliness. Since moving to the countryside 4 months ago, I have yet to make a friend. ME! The queen of extroverts, who used to walk up to people and say, "Hi, I'm Miss Extrovert, want to be friends?" And they always said yes. Until now, when I'm suddenly shy.

One thing that is nice about the country? The librarians. They're my friends.

My oasis the day I moved into town was the brand new, fully stocked, public library. The librarians are sweet and helpful (the polar opposite of those in the city) and they recognize me. They even chat a little with me. For example, tonight I was checking out 389403 audio books for my trip this week, plus a music cd and 3 books. The librarian looked at me with a smile and said, "I'm guessing you commute a lot." I smiled back and said, "how'd you guess?" But then I wanted to shout, "YES! I AM CONSTANTLY COMMUTING AND HAVE YET TO MAKE A FRIEND! BE MY FRIEND!" And then when he would be startled after my outburst, I'd apologize by saying that I know he's married and 55 and it probably wouldn't work out between us. Then I'd have to awkwardly shuffle/run away and not return. So instead, our conversation ended there. Yet, it's just being around all of those people who also love reading and use it to escape from their own lives, that makes me feel like I'm at home. I wouldn't trade any city library for my country one.