What If…One Thing Opened the Door

Angelina plays in a premier 🏐volleyball team, and she’s the only kid from her high school on the team. Except for a couple girls, all of the girls are students at different🏫 schools. They met each other through 🏐volleyball. That means that we know the other families through 🏐volleyball as well.

Guess what? That doesn’t matter. Having one thing in common was enough to build 💖friendships that bring joy to all of us. The girls have been together for a few years now. Real friendships💞 have grown over that time. They 😂 laugh together as much as they play together.  Group chats cover everything from the 🎽jersey color to wear at the next tournament to 🎤concerts to 📝homework. They spend ⏰time together off the courts. They are far more than just a volleyball team.

You know what else? The parents are the same way. We started with one thing in common. Now, we look forward to practice nights and tournament weekends because we get to hang out 💓together. We talk about our kids. We chat about the best📚 books to read and what to 📺binge-watch on Netflix. We shop on our phones while sitting on hard bleachers, sharing advice on 👠style and 👕color. We 😢cry together when life gets tough. We share 🍌🍬snacks. Most of all, we share the same 😂laughter and friendship that our daughters share.

It didn’t take much. We had one thing in 🌟common. That’s all we needed. Chatter happened naturally in those gyms. One shared idea led to another answered question.✅ Earned 💫trust brought on more in-depth conversation. We 😂laughed at ourselves and each other.

We don’t attend the same school events. We don’t have a bunch of other friends in common. We don’t go to the same 💒churches. Some of us don’t even live in the same state! Yet- over the years, we’ve learned to 👊count on one another when we’re on the sidelines. We also know that we can 💞rely on each other outside the gym walls. One simple thing in common led to valuable friendships. These are people that I might not have known otherwise, but my life is 💖more vibrant because they’re in it.

This situation isn’t unique. Maybe you’ve experienced a similar bond with 🙋co-workers. Perhaps you found your people on a 👟running trail or at ⛪church. Maybe your 🏠🏘neighborhood has a connection that goes beyond the address. Perhaps you have a class together.

What if…one thing opened the 🚪door?  Friendships are important. Find one💎 thing and use it to reach out. You could be 😂laughing together while sitting on the proverbial bleachers in your gym, too.