The move to our small town came with a bit more apprehension for me than it did for Thing 2. I’m not an overly extroverted person, so making new friends comes with inherent challenges. To compound that, I knew not a single soul in this town, but for the Hub’s ex., Cruella. Odd name, right? Yeah, just a nickname, but a very fitting nickname. She personifies all that is evil (her own dad will attest), and may very well harm puppies in her spare time. True story. OK, maybe not 100% true, but close. Sadly, Cruella seemed to be ingrained in every aspect of my new small town. Consequently, making true friends would prove to be more difficult than I had hoped. I needed to make it my mission to find the cracks that she slipped through, and though it was not apparent in the beginning, there were a lot of cracks.
One crack that she hadn’t managed to infiltrate was the “parents of Thing 4” demographic. In part, this would be where I found it easiest to fit in, despite most moms being 10ish years younger than me on average. While many have welcomed me and Thing 4 with open arms, many have only welcomed us on a very superficial level. I would eventually weed out the “friends of convenience”, but Thing 4 found this sadly disappointing. While my circle of true friends has not grown significantly in the 7 or so years since we moved to my new small town, what has grown is my understanding of who should, and more importantly who should not, fall into my circle. The process has been slow, painstakingly so at times, but as they say, slow and steady wins the race.
Motherhead 