Just Expats? or Besties?

I don't care. The moment we sign, I'm on the team page hunting down the new WAGS I'm gonna trauma bond with (jk). IMMEDIATELY hopping on their pages like a friggin' spider monkey because we...we shall be season soulmates. It's truly a connection that no one else can understand UNLESS they've experienced it.

I've shared rash creams, American deodorant, B&BW candles that my mom ships out, brushes and the deepest of my heart thoughts (emotions) with women I've only been 2 weeks in with. Lol. I mean bearing my literal soul & weird bodily discoveries with these women. If you've never asked a girl "does this look weird?" then are you really even friends? Lol. The sisterhoods in this lifestyle run deep. It's an unspoken sorority. I have online best friends whom I've never even met in person but you'd never know. Hi Marissa! (@thefullcourtwife)! Lol. The first page that understood me when my first year out. I'm sure most of you can relate.

But before I continue, I need to say thank you to my personal WAG besties for picking me up, even when they didn't know they were. Megan R., Michelle B. & Kim G. You mean the world. We've gotten to see each other's struggles & successes up close & personal. You've seen me with my edges undone and before I discovered the magic of European skincare...and you still stayed. Lol. The real MVP's.

Now I've described the literal Sisterhood of the Traveling pants...but what happens when you enter a season with other expat wives who seemingly or actually don't want anything to do with you? ESPECIALLY when you're an extrovert? FIRST OFF....rude. Feels mad shady when "we all we got" out here. However, while I personally feel like that's a violation of girl code (I'm a girl's girl), I did have to learn that every one of us has our own way of navigating this unique life we live. Some of us require community to survive and some of us become recluses. It just sucks when we're opposite because one of us is starving a bit... and if you're the hungry one, I'm sorry. I know the feeling. I'm not asking to be soulmates, but like...a coffee or something would be nice. Lol.

But again, what do you do? You stay friendly. You say "hello". YOU. DON'T. LET. HER. SEE. YOU. SWEAT. IF possible -highlight the "IF"- you send the occasional text to invite them out or see if there's anything in your power that you can do to help them get acclimated. You try. This is not to say you over-extend yourself to closed-off or mean girlies, but sis... if there's no known problem then assume there's no problem. You never know what someone is going through and I learned it from being both the recluse and the extravert.

I've been the girl so homesick that I closed myself in to cope and I've been the extravert that got turned down at every invite I sent. Can't lie though, I copped a low-key attitude. Lol. But I eventually went out and created lifelong friends and life outside of basketball...and I also got a response and a "yes" to my invite to breakfast. The truth is, there's grace in both spaces. For some of us...what we give is honestly the best we got.

Now if homegirl doesn't budge? Be kind but move on. Create a routine, rely on your former wives, get into the online communities my predecessors have so graciously built, get in the gym (refreshes your mind), take yourself to cute cafes, visit home during the season for a couple weeks, plan trips to surrounding countries and cities for you and your man...START A BLOG.

I know it gets lonely. Trust me. I do, and not everything I'm saying will help in those moments where you need a friend while your husband's napping. -They always nap- But we're in it with you. Hit your sisters up.

Waiting on your message sis...