At 10 yo, we moved to SD from the east coast. My dad had a job waiting but not housing. I didn’t go to school until we found a house to buy. It would be a month until we could move in after the purchase, however I started in the school district. We stayed in a kitchenette place in hotel circle, but I was commuting to school in Mira Mesa. At 10, it was a huge culture shock. The transient lifestyle was horrific for me while anything familiar was in storage. It would have been easier had we moved from one house to the next.

During this transition period, there was an incident at school. St. Patrick’s Day, before class, the kids noticed I wasn’t wearing green, so they all begin pinching me. This was not a tradition I was familiar with, so I ran away from the elementary school. I don’t remember all the details, but there was a manhunt to find me. I can’t remember how I made it to the hotel circle area, but I remember I was on the wrong side of I-8, and my mother could see me from the other side. I remember the panic on her face; she thought I would try to walk across the freeway.

TL;DR, I’m sure HR has seen its share of a new employees trying to juggle the job and family moving trauma.