I suddenly feel like a single mom. That may sound funny, since I have been a single mother since the day my (twin) children were conceived over two years ago. As a single mother by choice, I very consciously entered the mysteries of parenthood – quite the oxymoron, huh? Anyways, so if in reality I have always been a single mom, why has it only struck my psyche now?

Up until a month ago, I lived in St. Louis. Not a native Missourian, I made St. Louis my home 11 years ago. I developed relationships and built community, and it truly became my home. It also became the city in which my children were born and raised for twenty months of their young lives. In addition to being raised by their singular mother, my children had lots of other people who cared for them and loved them, and so did I. My peeps! No, I am not referring to the marshmallow treats for Easter that now come in an assortment of colors, but my people.

You know what I mean. We all have people whom we rely on for emotional support, good belly laughs, or just someone with whom we can call upon to share a cup of coffee or an ice cream. At times we call on these people in a crisis and at other times we call on them just because, without reason. Since I have only been in my new home of Delaware a month, I realize that I took for granted the number and quality of people in my local St. Louis life who are my true “peeps.”

So now I am on the lookout. I am meeting lots and lots of new people through my professional networks and the novelty of being in a new place. But I also have a discriminating eye, watching and observing for new people to bring into my life whom I can fondly call my “peeps.”