Umm, What Do Dads Do For Friends?

So I'm deciding to get a little personal with this post. I've been seeing posts on Facebook about people winnowing down their friends (both online and in real life) and someone sent me this article from the Seattle Times talking about how to defriend people. Rachel Belle from the Ron and Don Show also was talking about it. These posts and the article sort of leaped out at me because I feel like I don't really have many close friends anymore. What do you do when you've gotten so busy you've lost connections with people?

I'm in a weird space right now. I'm kind of stuck in between. Here's a little bit of backstory that goes all the way back to high school. When I was in high school I had a lot of friends across lots of different cliques. What was even better was that some of my close friends left my high school and went to a couple of ther other local high schools.

Before I left high school there was a large group (80 or so) that would hang out from all three high schools. We'd put on rock concerts, huge parties (Peterpalooza!), and crazy camping adventures. When we all left for college a sizeable number of us went to Western Washington University. Sizeable enough that we would end up taking over parties. So I'm really, really tight with a lot of these guys. Hell quite a few of them I've known since the 4th grade! We still all see each other during the year and try to get together when we can. But as you can see I've got some pretty strong ties built over time with some truly great people, but these ties are starting to fray.

This is where my weird space is. I'm finding that us guys that have kids basically never have time that seems to coincide with each other so we can get together. I have to plan a get together at least four months in advance and still can only get a few free enough to come.  

The guys that don't have kids have a ton of free time, but since mine is so limited it's hard to sync up with them. Plus they tend to want to do stuff that my daddy body just can't handle anymore. I can barely stay up past 10 p.m.! I'm starting to think that this is just how your life is once you become a Dad. I don't really remember my own Dad having very many friends that he'd hang out with and whatnot.  

I have a feeling that TV is filling my head about father's hanging out with their friends is just fantasy. In this day and age of "Mom's Night Out" or "Ladies Night" what do Dad's do?  Do I need to start an Eastside Dads group on Facebook?  

I'm not looking for guys that I can be all "emotional" with, but I am looking for guys in similar boats that are looking to vent a little during the week, shoot the breeze and have a couple of laughs about our kids. 

Looking forward to your comments!

Jack's Last Successful Meal
Oscar Meyer Angus Hot Dog (no nitrates and super yummy!)
Southern Pit BBQ beans
Applesauce mixed with squash
Apple Yogurt

Jack's Current Favorite Books
"Kilowog's Challenge" (Green Lantern) by Rob Valois
"In the Night Kitchen" by Maurice Sendak
"A Walk Down Sesame Street:Pop Up Book" by Sesame Street (we have to read this every night)