Moving is easy when you're Mormon

I just realized something. This is by far the most convenient time in my life to leave the church. We moved into our first house in an amazing new neighborhood in Davis County a few years ago and met a bunch of other young families like ours.  We went to church (where we saw all of those families) and our daughter attended primary.  Then we left the church, but the friendships and trust were already established.

How about when we moved to Hawaii?  We didn't know anyone.  I got on the church website, got in touch with a bishop, and he introduced us to his dad, who hosted us for a week while we looked for an apartment.  At the new apartment, a stranger showed up with a toolbox for me to borrow because he figured we'd have some furniture to assemble.  That stranger became one of my best friends in Hawaii.  Another stranger brought me a GPS that we could use in our car to find our way around (we didn't have smartphones at that point).  That stranger also became a good friend.

The instant community you find anywhere when you're Mormon is amazing.  If we moved now... and I mean a big move, to a totally new place... I honestly would be tempted to go back to church for a while to get a jumpstart on the new life.

I have no idea what it's like to move to a new place and not be Mormon.  I believe I'd do fine.  I'd make friends at work.  The fact that we have kids would help - we'd meet our kids' classmates' parents.  I understand that every day there are non-Mormon families moving to new places, and it works.  But if you're not Mormon, I don't know that you understand the instant community, the wealth of common ground, the utter ease of finding a social life in a new place.

From age 19 to age 27, the longest I lived in one place was 10 months -- it was one of the areas on my mission.  And moving around was a piece of cake.  I had instant friends everywhere.  What would it be like to move now?