I Need People

Being a single mum by choice doesn't necessarily mean doing everything myself.

I have always needed people around me to help out and nowadays I rely on a few close freinds and family; I know without them, I would be very stuck indeed.
It took me a while to learn to ask for help and to feel comfortable doing so, especially given I deliberately had this child on my own and have never regularly had to ask for help in the past. But now I do and I think it has been important for me to learn to be able to ask for help, to accept help and to acknowledge that I do indeed need help and can't always do it all on my own; and thats ok.

When I'm rostered on a shift that starts before daycare opens, my sister Natalie comes over, sometimes as early as 5am to stay with Roma and then take her into daycare when it opens. When I have appointments my other sister Jo takes Roma for an hour or so (have you ever taken a toddler to a chiropractor appointment? impossible!)
I have a date next friday night (yay for me!) and am now seeking out friends and family who may be able to stay with my sleeping daughter while I go out. It will be the first time I leave her at night so its a big deal for me. I could pay an unknown baby sitter to stay with her but if she woke up, she would freak out when this stranger comes into the room to comfort her, so friends and family are invaluable.

Lately my sister Natalie and I thought of taking things one step further and considered buying a house together so she can be more involved in Roma's life, help me out and we could then both afford to live in a nice house in a nice suburb; however that plan seems to have recently fallen through. So now I'm wondering again where I should live. Another option is to buy with my friend Tammy, but that is complicated also. I can't afford a house on my own, not unless I move to dodgey-ville somewhere in an outer suburb, far away from the people I rely on.
I need people. And I am recognising this more and more now.

At the moment Roma and I live in a unit near the city I bought about 6 years ago. It does the job but is small, needs maintenance and dealing with body corporate issues is difficult at times. I would love to move into a real house, but to do so, I need people.