Just A Normal New Kid On The Block Dilemma

sticker sign on board
Photo credit by Jon Tyson

​I am sorry to say this isn't about a new boy band tour braving our crappy Covid-19 world. But if it happened, I'd be the first to yell that over the airwaves.

I thank you in advance for braving my little story here. You may relate.

This is about what it's like for a teenage girl moving to a totally new area in the middle of this "don't go out - stay home" cloud of suffocation and sickness we are currently living in. Who'd a thought it would be so tough making new friends during that? 

Many, many people have suffered much more, but as you know, that doesn't seem to cause "teenage-pain" to register lower on the scale. To an uneasy freshman trying to join a new school with ZERO acquaintances, it's super-imposing.

I have to brag about her and tell you our youngest is as bright a bulb as there ever was. She had headed up the neighborhood gang since she could form sentences - on-fire relishing in that at-home warmth we all crave. After school holding court on our front steps - running and wrestling -  leading another of her patented kid-auction-trading events where your old knick-knacks and previously coveted toys rapidly find fresh love and new homes. "Hey kids, where did you get these old hermit crab shells?" A confused mom shouts out.

Then, as things sometimes go, most of those buddies moved to different homes on streets too far to get to on foot. And after a while nice new families move in - and many of the "girl houses" were now "boy houses" totally disrupting our girl's power mission statement.

You might have a kid like this too. She had 2 to 3 rough days hovering around, then just like before, she was soon leading this new neighborhood gang too, and having the time of her life. It was beautiful. We laughed about it all the time. Older neighbors got a kick out of her too. "I can't believe those kids have so much fun, and yours is in the middle of it all, showing those boys how it's done and usually barefoot, sometimes with just socks," which of course makes a parent shake her head and more.

Then mom and dad decide there's a new chapter to be lived somewhere in the county - like so many do. "Surely she'll make friends easily. It'll be exciting and this Covid stuff will be done by Labor Day for sure!" Not so fast dude (and don't call me Shirley.)

Wholly crap, high school football is canceled! Oh, and the first 3 months you'll be on the computer set up in your lonely new basement that echoes... and echoes. Even the family dog routinely bumps around and tumbles down the steps at the worst moments not knowing this new territory.

"Oh yeah, sounds so bad Paul. New home, moody kid, pretty normal," you might say.

That's true. AAHAH! Absolutely correct. But it still blows. And that's the moral of the story. We are all dealing with something that sucks right now. I've heard that vast four-lettered word is the only fix of it all: T-I-M-E. Time is our only weapon in this, along with an N95 mask. Or we could try "patience," but patience is so not fun, it's a coping method to get through the T-I-M-E. 

I wish there was something easier than TIME, but that's what makes it so special. In time, we will all feel better, stronger, and more compassionate I bet. And you WILL survive this. Right? Blank stare... Blink... "Okay, whatever Dad. You're so weird."

Just try explaining all of that TIME stuff to your kid. A blank stare means you're really getting through.