Family

I'm just after reading a post on Kellie's Blog and it put me thinking. You see, I'm about to go out for dinner with half of my family - my Dad and sister. It will be nice to see them and have something nice to eat. I haven't been down to Cork in a while and anytime I do, I just end up going out with what Kellie refers to as her family in Cork. Its true, I find the volleyball gang as my family in Cork. Most of my friends who are still in Cork are part of the volleyball club. It helps that a few of my good school friends are involved in the volleyball club. I have a good few others, but they are limited to those in my class and a few others from school.

Honestly, anytime I want to go out in Cork, I just give someone in the club a call and there will be somebody going out. I remember my first day of college during Fresher's Week when the Students Union President came in and spoke to us about college. He said a whole load of rubbish probably, but one thing stuck out. He said that you will have friends in college from your class and that you'll go out and get to know them well. But your real friends from college will be those you've made through a club or society. I can't remember his name, but he was right. I feel that my real friends from college were made through the volleyball club. If I had kept up hockey, then I would have made some good friends from that club. In fact, I still have a good few friends that I still know, even though I gave up in 2002.

Another reason why the volleyball club are my family in Cork when I go back is because a lot of my other friends have moved on. Its the bad thing about growing up and doing different things, but its inevitable that people move on and you lose touch with them. I'm not sure why I've lost touch with a number of friends, but it just happens. Being in Dublin doesn't help.

As for my Dublin family, I would most definitely say my start group at work. I started with 22 other recent graduates, so I immediately had a group of friends to go out with, and go out we do. I suppose its more often around Christmas, but still they're a great bunch of people to go out with. Its just a shame I don't work with them. We all work in the same company, but we're spread out over a number of different sites.

I've been thinking now for a while about taking up hockey again. If I take this job in London, which I'm 99% sure of taking, then I don't think I'll play volleyball for a number of reasons. One of them is that I don't think I'm any good and I've tried it for a number of years without much success. Another one is that the volleyball club atmosphere or circumstances aren't what I'm looking for. When I was in London during the summer I met up with London Lionhearts Volleyball Club. They were a really cool club, but most of the people involved were just in London temporarily. I've done that too much in the past and I don't want to go through all that again.

I mean I've made some really good friends through the volleyball club but it kinda sucks when they leave again. I've been told it before that its just a conveyor belt of new Erasmus and Study Abroad students every year. One batch replacing another. Its just that it takes so much effort to get to know all these people. And by the time you're good friends with them, they have to go home again. They are my family, all be it somewhat a temporary one. Its not all bad though, I have made some really good friends through the volleyball club who are still around and will be for the foreseeable future.

I guess it just shows how important your blood family is to you. They'll always be there for me. And anytime I go home, they're the same, a constant in my life. Even though I don't agree with them sometimes, they're my family. It kinda sucks that one family member has just skipped ahead of me. He's not with me now, but I'm sure I'll meet him pretty soon.