Making friends when you move somewhere new is always kind of tricky. It's kind of like dating. You meet someone cool/nice/interesting/funny/like you/not like you and you want to somehow get to know them more. How do you do that? Do you ask for their number? Email? Find them amongst your mutual friend's friends on Facebook? All of which I have done. You hope they don't think you're coming on to odd/strong/eager. And you hope they also need a friend because truth be told, so many time when we move some where, other people aren't looking for friends. They have their community and they are happy with it and are maintaining it.
It seems it gets both easier and harder when you become a mom/parent in a new place. Bam! You have something in common! The baby! Kind of like when you went to college/grad school in said city and found out you had all the same interests as everyone in your program/club. But a kid is almost better because it brings all sorts of different kinds of people and puts them into the same boat. Young mom, old moms, working moms, stay at home moms, athletic moms, deal shopping moms, moms who are carefree, moms who read every study--the mix is endless and kind of refreshing.
But the tricky part is that you are a new you. And one you don't know very well. You are trying to figure out how to be a mom, raise a baby, be a wife, be a friend, a sister, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, unemployed, employed, a striving to get back to running gal, etc. It's really hard to sort it all out because it turns out that the baby affects each and every part of you. Because my baby has such a hard time sleeping I also compound this with being really fuzzy. So when I meet new moms I feel like I can barely put thoughts together and finds words. I wish these people knew the old me. The one who talked about other things besides sleep. The one who had interesting and funny things to say. The one who thought she was going to be a different kind of mom but it turned out her kid had something else in mind. The one who did interesting things and tried fun activities. Lived for doing something just because it would make a good story. I guess I always just hope the moms will just like me enough to give me a chance. May be they'll relate, may be they'll feel sorry for me but whatever it is I long for friendships. Parenting can be a lonely gig. And stack that on top of a new country, new city and even a new language that prohibits you from time to time--phew! it can be a lot. But I am thankful this babe brings a new community of interesting people into my life and I am hoping to make just a few good friends even in my hazy state. To help my hazy state. Not too many, just a few. Enough to make me feel like someday someone would want to try to get my number.
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