No nearby family

[Anonymous]

DH and I have no family who lives remotely close to DC. It's quite different from how we were both raised - surrounded by family where they were your primary social network. I've lived here for about a decade, so have become used to it, but sometimes I really miss having that.

For those of you in similar situations, have you found a substitute for that strong social network? Where did you find this - a church/synagogue/mosque/temple community, through a hobby, work friends?

[Anonymous]

There's no substitute for that. We just travel a lot to make up for it.

[Anonymous]

Same situation here. And no REALLY close friends either. We're used to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same situation here. And no REALLY close friends either. We're used to it.

Same...maybe we should be friends?

It's so lonely sometimes. The rest of my family all lives near each other and I feel so left out all the time. Also feel like my child is missing out in not getting that close family connection that I had growing up with my extended family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same situation here. And no REALLY close friends either. We're used to it.

Same thing here.

[Anonymous]

Sadly I have lots of family nearby but they are lame. Okay not all of them.

I have made friends through my kids schools, neighbors and sports.

We do holidays together, vacations, etc.

We also do babysitting for each other.

Your not alone so just keep your eyes and ears open for people in the same situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's so lonely sometimes. The rest of my family all lives near each other and I feel so left out all the time. Also feel like my child is missing out in not getting that close family connection that I had growing up with my extended family.

OP again. Yes, me too! It feels so weird to see all my cousin's kids growing up so fast and they don't even know who I am when I go home to visit when their parents and I were BFFs who grew up together. My siblings still live there, and I get so jealous seeing their Facebook photos of them hanging out with the family all the time, while we're a bit lonely up here. There are just no career opportunities for either of us where our families live so moving there at this point isn't an option, but I feel really bummed at the idea of having very little community and support once we have kids soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's so lonely sometimes. The rest of my family all lives near each other and I feel so left out all the time. Also feel like my child is missing out in not getting that close family connection that I had growing up with my extended family.

Stupid quote function:

OP again. Yes, me too! It feels so weird to see all my cousin's kids growing up so fast and they don't even know who I am when I go home to visit when their parents and I were BFFs who grew up together. My siblings still live there, and I get so jealous seeing their Facebook photos of them hanging out with the family all the time, while we're a bit lonely up here. There are just no career opportunities for either of us where our families live so moving there at this point isn't an option, but I feel really bummed at the idea of having very little community and support once we have kids soon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same situation here. And no REALLY close friends either. We're used to it.

Same...maybe we should be friends?

It's so lonely sometimes. The rest of my family all lives near each other and I feel so left out all the time. Also feel like my child is missing out in not getting that close family connection that I had growing up with my extended family.

9:04 here, Sounds like a great idea. I have 2 girls and it can get a bit boring and not to have another with children to hang with on the weekends.

And you too 9:07

[Anonymous]

ALL of my family is on a different continent and I am single mom. Talk about LONELY!

[Anonymous]

We are in a similar position. I wish there was a club in DC for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a similar position. I wish there was a club in DC for us. [/quote

"The Lonely Couples Club."

I can only imagine how many freaks that would draw out.

[Anonymous]

We mostly stay in touch through Facebook and we Skype with my IL's once a week so that my daughter gets to talk "face to face" with her cousins thousands of miles away.

My parents come up as often as they can - once every 6-8 weeks for a few days.

I never did live in the same town as my cousins, but I still felt pretty close to them even though we only hung out every couple months.

We aren't church people, so that option is out for making friends. At this point, I have a few close friends who live in the area that I see on rare occasions and see parents from my daughter's schools/activities. We've been pretty lucky to meet a few families we really like, but we don't hang out regularly - I'd like to, but life has a way of being busy for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: We've been pretty lucky to meet a few families we really like, but we don't hang out regularly - I'd like to, but life has a way of being busy for everyone.

And that's sort of what gets to me. With family you are very close to, you make a point to cut through the busy-ness to see each other. With friends who are not your very very closest friends who are like family, this just doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in a similar position. I wish there was a club in DC for us.

Like!