just venting, I'll feel better tomorrow...

I MUST vent, and tomorrow will look better, but until then, can I just say OMH!!! this has been a month from you know where! We moved from a quiet rural area in western Idaho to Southern California - right into the midst of the raging wild fires! Actually they are still about 30 miles away, but considering how much acreage they have already burned, and the air is thick with the smoke from them,  that's not a big comfort.

Even without the fires I detest moving!!! Everything is upside down and backward, there are a whole H-E- Blankety blank of a lot more people, and traffic is CRAZY!!! It took me 45 minutes to go 4 miles from one son's school to another son's school! I took my kids into the doctor today to get all the necessary referrals to get all thier speech, occupational, developmental and physical therapys set up. ( they have autism and developmental delays) The doctor herself was very nice, but until I got to her, I felt like a cow being pushed through the shoots! I felt a bit like water spilling out from a pipe onto a wide street as I rushed out the door and finally got to slow back down to a pace I was more comfortable with. Not walking, but a psycological pace if that makes sense.

I am not a stupid person and do NOT consider myself a hick; in all honesty can keep up with the best of them in mental loop-de-loops, I just don't like to. What is wrong with asking a stranger how thier day is, and taking the time to listen? We were in a waiting room with time to kill for heaven sakes! Why do people look at me like I am some sort of alien or worse, a serial killer when I wave and smile at them? My neighbor literally RAN from me when I started to walk toward him to say hello and introduce myself! Am I THAT odd or scary?

I hate moving from all the friends I have made, the contacts I have established, the relationships I have built.  I hate having to rebuild the infrastucture of my childrens therapies and care, and that they have to go though so much change and transition themselves; but even more so, I hate leaving the "familiar". I know that in time, this will become the familiar, and I will adjust, but it is a bit scary and a lot lonely until then.

I must resolve to keep with the plan and not use food as a comfort. I must stick to the plan. Ok I'm done being selfish ... thanks for listening....  ;)

(((HUGG))) moving sucks.
Hope that this rant relieves a little of your stress. 
Those fires are something else.

Clarkplace-welcome to California!!!! I am a native, born in Los Angeles. I have been out of the state four times. Some of us are probably very different from you.

But, there are friendly people out there. You will find them soon enough.

Try looking in the usual places - PTA at your kids' school, church, etc.

Until then - we here at CC.com are your friends!!!!

Best Regards, NuBiker

(((More Huggs)))

Hi and Welcome

Moving is hard and I'm sorry but you have caught us on a bad week. I am So Cal born and raised. I grew up in San Diego and now live in San Clemente

We do have a lot more people than most areas and everything is a lot more crowded. It will take a little more time to get around, I have a 3 mile commute with 10 traffic lights. So the amount of time to get some where will very.

If your neighbor ran away I'd say he is the one with issues and if some people ignore you they are living in their own LA,LA land. Don't take them personally,especially this week with so much going on even I have had a hard time with fires all around us. But mostly we are just people just like you with our roots and you will find yours too once the smoke clears.

Good for you!! Keep to your plan and don't let it get down!!

BTW my husbands Aunt and Uncle are in Post Falls, Id. I love it up there:)

Thanks for the replies, and as soon as the schools open again, I plan on signing up for the PTA. That was a great suggestion. Church is a given, I'll start that next week. I am sure we will do great.

I am glad to hear there are nice people everywhere :)  . I do feel much better this morning, I do thank you for your ((hugs)) and support.

Hmm, sounds like my area--Temecula Valley, lots of traffic, unfriendly people. But I've adjusted over the past two years.

I lived in Middleton Idaho for a while, near Nampa and Caldwell. Not sure where you were, but can definitely sypathise with the shock of relocating to So Cal.

I keep a nail file in my visor and work on my nails at the traffic lights. A nice distraction for me instead of stressing over waiting for "my turn" to go! Good luck settlling in :)

I am sooooo with you!  I was raised in the Missouri Ozarks.  I grew up in  a house that was sitting on 6 acres of wooded land on top of a hill, bordered by an 800 acre wooded lot.  I grew up...literally...in the woods.  The trees where my best friends.  The road I lived on was 1.25 miles long, with only 3 houses on it at the time, so my nearest neighbor was about .25 miles away.  So when I moved to Houston, TX I said Oh...my....god! Poeple are rude, traffic is terrible, and if you try to strike up a freindly conversation they look at you as if you lost your mind.  I am sooo not a city person, I plan on moving out of here as soon as my 18 month contract is up (I currenly have 8 months under my belt, 10 to go), I will be saying buh-bye to the big city with rude people and terrible traffic.  There just are too many D@%M people, I can't stand it.  I plan on moving to Alaska...ha ha...but not a joke.  I am  going to go to University to get my Master's degree up there.  That should be fun, and be nice to be somewhere where people arn't EVERYWHERE.  Am I the only one who loves the woods?

clarkplace123- I soo feel for you as well. I live in southeastern Idaho. A few years ago we moved to Salt Lake City, not as big as where you are, but still quite a bit bigger than any town in Idaho. I HATED standing in lines, waiting in traffic (we were there the year before the Olympics and there was construction EVERYWHERE, and if it wasn't on that street that week, it was there the next!), and the people! They're everywhere! I'm so used to going into the grocery store and always knowing someone (actually a lot of someones), there I didn't know anyone, maybe once or twice ran into someone I knew. But the lines of people were the killer. Anything government took a minimum of 2 hours! Here in Idaho, you walk in, if you have to wait 5 minutes you leave complaining - well, I don't anymore, I just am so happy I'm back in Idaho.

I did notice, however, that the longer I was there the more people I did get to know, that we were still in our own little community, it was just a smaller radius than in Idaho. There were conveniences, too. We could go watch so many more cultural events and sporting events. That was nice.

What town did you move from? How long were you there? What caused you to move?

Figurethefat, you hit the nail on the head! We moved to the Temecula area from the very southeastern tip of Nampa. If you crossed the road it would have been considered Kuna.

I had to laugh at the post jillmugleston wrote. I well remember the lines that had 6  or 7 people in them and we thought we had better come back on another day when it was not so crowded! :) The DMV has been a huge  shock, but  as long as I plan for it  I think I can get used to it.  My nails with be the prettiest they have been  since  before I had kids! ;)

The schools should re-open on Monday, and after I get my TB test done I plan to do alot of volunteer work there . Hopefully I can build up  my networks quickly and pull  a few people out of thier own little worlds without being TOO pushy... :)