This idea popped into my head this morning. What if the Lane family moved to say Europe or another country for Sam's work before Lois was born? Then when Lois was in high school she became a foreign exchange student to the US. Maybe ending up in Smallville either living with the Kents, the Harris' or the Langs'. I think it would be fun to see Lois and Clark meet early on with Lois leaving after a year. Just a thought.
Sarah