“You paint a rosy picture about how friendly people are. I do join church and community activities, but what I find time and again is that people are caught up in their own lives. They don’t take time to be friendly with others,” she wrote.

If I’ve given the impression I think people are basically friendly, that’s because I believe they are. I find proof of that every day.Here are just two examples from my past two days. I arrived early one morning for an interview on the beach. While I was waiting for my interviewee to arrive, I started taking pictures of seagulls lined up like sentries at the water’s edge.I noticed another woman also taking photos. We both smiled and she noted she was using her cellphone, not a camera like mine. Soon we were chatting away about camera, photography and how much we loved every moment on the beach. She said she comes every day and I should look for her so we can chat again.I’m sure she is a friend in the making.See? Easy peasy.This morning while I was out biking, it started to rain and I was 6 miles away from home. I took shelter under a picnic pavilion in a park where another biker was also waiting out the storm.Soon we were chatting like old friends. Newly retired, he talked about how hard it is to adjust from having a paycheck to living on a pension, noting that he sometimes runs out of money before the month is over.He said his parents always “had everything” and never taught him to budget. Then we talked about how much parents “owe” their adult children. Should they help out in a money crunch, or should parents let their adult kids learn to manage on their own.I didn’t know this guy until we both took shelter from the rain. But there we were, sharing our lives’ story and talking about some weighty issues.I find that often happens. Don’t know why, but it does.One woman wrote to say she thinks I find it easy to make friends because people in Florida are friendlier than they are in Pennsylvania where she lives.Well, she’s right about one thing. It’s probably easier to make friends in Florida because so many people are retired with plenty of time on their hands to meet new people and join new activities.Plus, many retirees here in the Sunshine State moved away from their family and former friends. They are more than willing to make new friends.But I don’t believe the woman was right when she said people are friendlier in Florida than in Pennsylvania.I lived in Pennsylvania all my life before I moved here and I always found people to be friendly, especially in the coal regions where I grew up.When I moved from my hometown to Palmerton, I was sad to leave behind a community where I knew every man, woman and child, along with the names of their pets. I was leaving a strong support system of friends, moving to a place where I knew absolutely no one.When I learned Palmerton has a wonderful community festival, I called around to see where I could volunteer. That was all it took to start making new friends.I do have a funny story or two about how some people want you to “prove yourself” before they accept you.One of my new friends invited me to her family reunion. She introduced me to her father-in-law by saying I was her “wonderful new friend.”“Only time will tell how wonderful she is,” the old man replied. He said I would have to prove myself before he would call me a friend.Ten years later we were all good buddies and he and I laughed about our first meeting when I reminded him of what he said.During my early days in the area I was in Bowmanstown looking for a certain address I could not find.When I saw a woman sweeping leaves in the street, I stopped to ask her where I could find the woman I was supposed to interview.“Oh, everyone knows where she lives,” said the woman. When I told her I was a newcomer to the area, she said she was, too.I asked how long she lived there and was startled by her answer. “Twenty-one years,” she said, “but you’re a newcomer here until you have two generations buried in the cemetery.”I laughed at her comments and hoped I wouldn’t find it was true. It wasn’t.I have two close friends who wanted to enlarge their social circle instead of only relying on a few close friends, because if those friends are unavailable, they don’t want to sit home.One found success by taking a volunteer job where she meets interesting new people. The other friend gained new friends when she joined a women’s church group as well as “meet and greet” groups that exist solely to help people get to know others.I still believe people are basically friendly and many would welcome new friends. All we have to do is seek them out.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.