I’m not sure if I have mentioned in this blog, but I am a 44-year-old female with 4 children , ranging from a 6 foot 3 , man-child, 18-year-old in college, to a blonde beauty of 2 years old and two little gregarious boys of 6 and 4 in between. It is no secret that my husband and I adopted the three littles.

Growing up, I had friends in high school but never many at a time. I tended to ‘love’ one at a time. I am viciously loyal. My younger sister is 4 years younger and it seemed like too much of an age gap to hang out together at the time. No cousins around , so at an immediate disadvantage to those with big families (I was jealous of them, yes).

I did have about a hundred acquaintances at a time, but my focus was towards my friend at that time. I can talk the proverbial ‘hind legs off a donkey’ and pride myself that I can talk to most people about any subject. I know a little bit about a lot of subjects.

At my stage in life , my spread out family poses me no end of difficulty in maintaining friendships.

If I meet a lady at work or whilst at the store who seems to be around my generation, her children are already mid to late teens and when they find out I still have one in diapers who will be in a stroller on our lady lunches, they don’t call.

By the school gates I strike up conversations with some of the parents but they are about 24 years old and I could also be their mother !! That age gap doesn’t bode well for conversations outside of our children and their schoolwork and soccer game scores.

I don’t want to listen to gangster rap and hang out at their house whilst multiple other young people smoke and drink. I want sophisticated cocktails in an upscale hotel and to talk about travel and about books I have read.

I don’t want to join a mommy and me group as I have found it to be full of first time moms gooing and cooing over their first-born and talking incessantly about diapers and teething. I am so over that.

There must be many women in the same boat as me. Later babies and second blended families are the norm, or so I thought.  Hubby being away at work adds to the pressure.

I keep hoping that my new friend and I will bump into each other soon.

I relate this to trying to “pick up” women. How on earth do the men do it? I look around everywhere I go , scanning for a married female of 40 something with a large family of various ages that wants to go for drinks whilst the menfolk watch all those kids. Maybe a matching site for moms?

Lonely but surrounded by people. That’s my mating call.