We moved to our current area just after I got pregnant with my son. It took me over EIGHT years to meet a truly awesome friend in the area. Like me, she was a transplant. It's a small, insular community and most people who live here have lived here since birth...gone to school together, been pregnant together, etc. It was REALLY hard when DS was little to not have anyone to lean on or kids for him to play with. Even when he was in preschool the other moms were not open for a new friendship. They were mostly nice, but I never was able to move beyond acquaintance level with these people.

I had one other friend in the area years back, but she later moved.

Through my good local friend I have met another local friend, so that is nice. I still don't feel like one of the locals, but that's OK. Eventually we have plans to move 30-45 minutes South of our current location to be closer to DH's work and I have several friends down that way (when DS was little I started an online playgroup for moms in our county and found several friends via that venue).

Before moving here I'd never before had such a hard time making friends and it gave me a real understanding of what new kids faced moving to the small community that I grew up in. In many ways I think it would be easier to meet new people in a larger, more diverse community.