Life Jacket
On the iPod “7 Rings” by: Ariana Grande
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/7-rings/1449165458?i=1449165459
I want to start out by saying I have some of the most amazing girlfriends. I have a pretty big circle filled with little bitty circles down the timeline of my life. If you are in it it’s because I think you are extraordinary. I really don’t care for fluff.
Over spring break, I have been lucky enough to spend some quality time with a number of my favorite ladies. From attending pole dancing classes to cocktails to play dates it has been a great week. Amazingly, I was able to take off of work the second half of the week and spend some time with two of my dearest friends... they happen to be sisters and I’d like to think that I’ve shoved my way into being the third sister🤪! We might not be blood but I’m pretty sure there is something so much stronger holding us together!
Anyways, two of us were on a play date on Thursday which we lovingly refer to as “mommy camp” and we had a hanger ( a kid that is just hanging on you and won’t go play at a play date) you know when you’ve paid $12 a kid to take them somewhere fun to be entertained yet they stand there staring at you waiting to see your dog and pony show... this time it happened to be my friend’s kid and without hesitation she looked at her kid and said, “can you please go play because this is mommy’s turn to have a play date with Amanda.” He pretty much just rolled his eyes at us but eventually he went to play with the other 42 kids. We were able to have a full 1 hour conversation over a 3 hour period ( it doesn’t sound like it but it is actually impressive) The funny thing is that we weren’t talking about the color we want to paint the bathroom wall, we were in a full blown heart tugging, dream seeking, life changing semi therapy session. When we left to put kids down for naps we both sort of giggled at the fact that we were able to actually have a conversation and on the drive home I realized that I was filled with a million things I wanted to write about. So much so that I ended the day on the phone with the other sister talking about an internal struggle that my conversation with her sister sort of brought up unintentionally. I’m pretty sure at this moment I have about 4 different blog posts going stemming from a couple of 3 hour play dates with my friends.
I started to think about play dates in general and how they have evolved... when I first became a mother I thought of play dates as a chance for my kid to have fun and some social interaction with other children. I quickly realized that play dates are as much for us as they are for them...possibly even more for us. See my close circle of mom friends are not just other women who happen to have kids that play with my kids. Not having a sister only magnifies my need for them in my life. These women love my kids as their own just like I love their kids in the same way. In a lot of ways, we probably co-parent together better than we parent alone and ....maybe even better than we do with the fathers 😝 . They are also my refuge. We laugh and cry and cuss and We love and care for each other enough that we can listen without judgments but also with a desire to protect each other if that makes sense. Wanting the best for another person all the while truly understanding the difficulty of being a woman in our thirties and forties, working in and/or out of the home, being in/finding/or staying in love and raising little humans comes with a lot of compassion, respect and trust. These relationships that I’ve been lucky enough to cultivate are my life jacket through the trenches of adulthood.
I really try to tell them all as much as I can how much their friendship means to me and how much each one of them truly inspires me but I’m not sure if I will ever feel like i have told them enough what an honor and privilege it is to have them in my life.
So to the ladies out there who continue to throw me a life jacket...thank you. I would not be half of the person I am today without all of you.
Love,
Me
