Transitions+Longings

Moving to a different region of the country with no known friends or contacts can be challenging. Certainly if it wasn't for the family, the feeling of loneliness/isolation may be more pronounced, but spending time with children as well as babymama has lessened those feelings. Being a part time stay at home babydaddy also further causes me to feel isolated in some ways, which is something I can share with all the babymamas out there holding down the fort.

Transitioning to a new place in this day in age is probably very different than in the past, the fact that I still keep up with "local" news of my former home towns, as well as keep up with various interests all via the web, it's almost like I never moved.

Despite staying current and relevant in my professional field, pop culture, sports, politics, weather, etc., I have a longing for relationships, which is the struggle for every parent or stay at home parent, but knowing that I won't see the friends we left behind is now wearing on me. It's one thing to vicariously follow their lives via blog, msg boards, social media, etc., but those are all good forms of keeping in touch when you know you will see them in the immediate future, it's totally different when txt msgs and emails are the only means of sustaining friendships with no face to face contact. I miss interacting with wifey's neighborhood mama friends who would just stop by or I would see at playgrounds, the get togethers with my friends and their new families, as well as hanging out with friends without kids.

Forming and sustaining local relationships around children is simply going to be a long and slower process, like all things in the South.

In the meantime I have my family, and I have to recognize and appreciate what I got.