Hoosier ruminations

The kids and I made a very quick trip to Indiana over the weekend-- 900 miles, 15 hours in the car. It was busy and mostly fun.

I wanted to go because it was the 7th anniversary of the passing of my beloved grandpa, which happened the week that we moved to Notre Dame. We were able to be present as he was nearing death because we had moved so much closer, which I attribute to the work of the Holy Spirit, prompting us to move a week sooner. This weekend we visited with some of my family in South Bend and in Anderson and wished we'd had more time. It's a week when I really want to be with family each year.

We visited some Notre Dame friends briefly as well, which was balm for my children's little hearts as they've been really traumatized by our big move this past year. I can sympathize as I've struggled with depression all year as well. There was no way around the move, they know, but they have really struggled with no longer having free range outdoors and good little buddies ready to play with any time. I'm very cautious about who I let them play with because I firmly believe that "bad company corrupts good morals". I didn't need to worry much at Notre Dame, but I'm often concerned by what I hear out of parents' and children's mouths here, and it makes me reluctant to let the kids mix with other kids. Example: Aidan's classmate got off the bus wearing a lei, and his dad yells "hey son, I see you got laid today!". Crass and inappropriate in any context, but these were 5 year olds!

We are building a life here, but it's been slow going. Finding appropriate friends has taken time, and finding other families who can handle that we're a little rambunctious is a challenge. I like to find families with at least a few high energy kids, no room for perfectionism, similar values to ours, and a reasonable rapport between the mommas. I know my natural parenting crunchiness can be off-putting to some more mainstream moms, and it's so pervasive in our life that I am unable to keep it to myself since it has everything to do with what we eat, how we parent, how many children we have, and how we choose to live. I gotta do what works for us. I'm thankful that the natural parenting community here is forming! I miss my old community very much. It's a different place now, but I miss how I knew who I was when I was there.