#confuseme

It finally happened.  After being gone for 6 years, I finally moved back to North Carolina.  I wasn't sure I would ever get to come back, and I never really thought I would end up back in the area that I grew up.

Prior to my move, I was jacked up on excitement.  This was my place.  It was always home.  I lived all over the Greensboro area growing up, and I knew that I was returning to a place of familiarity.  That was comforting since I was basically starting my life over!  I had so many friends and family close by and this would be fun.  I was so ready to get back I couldn't stand it.

In the excitement, I didn't even think about the fact that almost every single person I knew in the Greensboro area is married.  They are all moms with their own family lives now, and the life I knew in this area once upon a time was over.

Being a single parent in your 30s or 40s, is a little bit of a gut check.  You are no longer in the phase of life that all of your friends are in.  Let's face it, married folks tend to run with married folks.  So that left me in a strange place.

How do you make friends in the same phase of life you are in when you also have kids to take care of?  When you are raising kids alone, you find that you have more alone time than you know what to do with.  I enjoy my alone time, in fact, I often crave it!  But, there are days that I don't want to be alone.  The days when you have been alone enough and you just want to hang out with someone!  Days when you need adult interaction with someone who makes you laugh.

I felt this starting to happen after the New Year, so I started a part time job.  The job I took on was flexible enough for me to be at home when the kids are home, but still bring in a little money doing something I enjoy.  I am not in an office, and most of the people I work with are also... MARRIED!
Obviously this means, making single friends at work won't be happening!

So now what?! It is a weird place to be!  It is a strange season of life, and I am eager for it to pass.
There are a lot of pros to being single in my 30's, but I am finding cons too.  This is without a doubt the biggest con I have found.  I got married so young, and in fact, was one of the first people I knew my age to get married.  When I was having babies, it seemed like most of my friends were getting married.  Now my babies are kids, and most of the people I know have babies of their own.

Cut to my marriage ending.  I hope that the friends I know and love don't have to deal with this headache down the road, but we are now living very different lives.  Without a coparent to share custody with on the regular, I find myself at home ... ALONE ... a lot.

I have learned to love my house.  I have watched a LOT of Netflix.  I have grown to love social media for new reasons.  I have found myself taking risks and trying new things when I get the chance.  I have found a love for my mini workouts.  I have found myself, really.  I had kind of forgotten who that Jessica chick was.  She is pretty cool, and she is ready to meet some single friends and have a life again!

I guess I just call 1-800-findafriend, right?!  #thisisaweirdseasonoflife #confuseme