As a kid, we moved constantly. Always to a better house situation, yes, but it also seems like my Nmom would do something to mess up the current situation, then we would move. The longest I spent in one school was 2 years, and that was a crazy long time for me.

She had a tendency to just suddenly decide we were moving whenever my sister and I made close friends, and every time we moved, we were never allowed to discuss HER friends from before the move, or her job from before the move. As a kid, I wrote it off as she missed her friends and didn't want to talk about them because it hurt. Looking back, I think she was moving to avoid the people who noticed her N personality. The longest we spent in an area was when we were near her sister and Mom, and her mom was an E mom (...more like she was too old, and had Alzheimer's and dementia, so very easy to manipulate), and her sister helped her out mostly to help keep my sister and I safe and cared for. (I know there was monetary help, but my aunt also cared for my sister and myself a lot during that time, we spent a lot of time with her at her house, and she always made sure we had everything we needed and all. She might be considered an enabler, but I really feel like it was mostly for my sister and i, not for my mom.)

But, eventually, mom got into a fight with them and we left there. Never stayed in an area that long again.

Did anyone else go through that as a kid? I feel like it's harder for me to make lasting emotional connections because of it. It's also hard for me to just sit still and handle life, because when things go badly, my instinct is to just move to another city and away from the problem.