Relationships

I got in a funk today because I don't know who my friends are and who my friends should be. I am too young to have adult friends and too immature too have peers. I am also too mature to have friends that are four or five years younger than me. Those kids that are four or five years younger than me, are the ones that I am interested in. I go from this to spending time with women in their thirties, such as "friends" parents.

I also run into this problem at work too. I work at a place where I am the only teenager. All the staff at my place of work were invited to a baby shower. I can't drive, which means that my mom would have to take me on a fort-five minute drive to a baby shower and either sit in the car, go to the baby shower, or drive home and back. None of those would make sense. Am I ready to go to a baby shower or work party by myself? Am I old enough? Would it be appropriate for my mom to join me? Many questions pop up when this situation arises.

I also have an issue with have relationships with adults. I never seem to want to hang out with my peers unless they are special needs students: individuals who are in lifeskill classes. My parents have discouraged me from this because they want me to be with my neurotypical peers. They want me to be able to function in the real world. They don't want me to be looked at differently or as separated from neurotypical individuals since I am so close to being neurotypical. The strategy that I came up with, not that i thought about, is to hang out with adults. I have tons of adults in my life that are accepting of me. Acceptance automatically means a friend.

That being said leads me to discuss my general inappropriate relationship issues. I have a major problem with thinking that anyone who is nice to me is my best friend. This best friend could be a doctor, a receptionist at the doctors office, or someone who I have just met. There was even one time where I thought that a soccer mom of a soccer player on my brothers soccer player was my friend and my moms too. Have I seen her since soccer? No.

This whole relationship issue comes up all the time. Who are my friends???