A Little Validation

I'm still here… really. Actually, last week was crazy busy as hubby was away, but more about that soon.

Been musing over things and making some decisions. I will be starting a new blog soon. Just working out all the details. For now, I'll keep writing here.

I had an amazing, if rather surreal, moment yesterday at the playground in the park near our flat. We had just gotten there and K beelined for the swings. I put her in and start pushing and chatting with her. In the next swing was a little boy (probably about 18 months) pushed by our dad. He made some comment about how his son constantly changed his mind (as the boy tried to climb out) and I laughed and agreed. Then he looked at me and said, "I don't mean to be rude, but where are you from?"

I get that a lot. There are quite a few North American ex-pats in our area and you can pick us out of a crowd quite easily. The accent helps with that.

I replied that I was from Canada. He smiled and said that he always wondered when he heard someone who wasn't from around here. I made my comment about the multitude of ex-pats and a woman chasing her own 2.5 year old boy near the larger swings smiled and nodded. She asked me where in Canada I was from in a very clearly North American accent. I said Vancouver. She got excited. Apparently, she was from the USA and had a friend living in Vancouver. Turns out the man was from Ireland and had moved to Glasgow a little while ago.

We got to talking and really quite seriously, she glommed onto us, peppering us with questions about settling here. She had been here a month and a half. Some of her questions/concerns included:

-needing adult conversation
-not knowing how to meet people in a new place
-dealing with the uncertainty of knowing you might only be there a little while (hard to commit to things)
-finding ways to get out of the house more
-dealing with the not so nice weather
-missing home

It occurred to me that I was her a year ago. And there was this empowering thing for both of us in my being able to reassure her that what she was going through was normal, and that I could help her feel that her thoughts and feelings were validated.

I gave her my mobile number and am hoping she texts and that I see her again. She was a lot of fun and our kids are the same age (well, she has a second who's 6 months). It would be great to help her settle and here's the kicker for me… have a social life.

Who'd have thought.