Coming Home to St. Louis

I’m probably not your typical St. Louis girl. I always had a healthy appreciation for my hometown (and an incredibly healthy appreciation for Cardinals baseball), but I wouldn’t say I treasured it like I do today. The travel bug bit me in my early 20s, and I jumped at every chance to travel that I could.

After working five years in a corporate communications job in St. Louis, I knew I needed to seize the life opportunity before me. I landed in Paris, France in September 2014 and began my great adventure of teaching English to French high schoolers. The glow of light from the city of love and its inhabitants captured my heart quicker than I expected. Oh, and the croissants helped, too.

Fast forward a few years, and boy did life look different! My husband and I welcomed our daughter into our family. Growing my family in a foreign country was a pivotal moment and I’m grateful for the ways it shaped the course of my life.

It became clear to me how much I missed my own mother as I did my best to navigate life with a newborn living nearly 5,000 miles away from her. We swapped WhatsApp messages hourly. With each passing day, I grew more comfortable in my new role. But I often longed to be near my own language, children’s clothing sizing I understood, family, and yes, especially St. Louis. 

We soon found ourselves in the midst of a lengthy immigration process. Despite an unknown timeline, the plan for us was to make the most of our life in France during the first year of my daughter’s life. And boy, I will always treasure that year!

When we emerged from the newborn haze around three months in, I felt a bit lost. Although we were settling into our new normal, I also felt the isolation that can come along with motherhood set in. Where could I meet other moms who were at home with their children like I was? What did French mamas advise in terms of feedings and routines at this stage? I had many questions, and I didn’t know where to find answers. It was in that moment that I vowed to help mothers wherever I could to find the resources they need. It is frightening enough to enter the realms of new parenthood, but to feel ill-equipped adds a new level of loneliness.

Thus, my desire to bring City Moms Blog to St. Louis was born! I am thrilled for the chance to bring this resource to moms in our dear city. We hope you’ll find the information you need, in addition to enjoying the writing from our amazing contributor team.

Coming home to St. Louis has been exactly what I needed. A return to familiar, a return to family, a return to normalcy, a return to roots.  I guess that’s what coming home ought to feel like, anyway.