It's amazing to look back and see how far I have truly come in my recovery. Now don't get me wrong, I still don't appreciate strangers coming up to me and commenting about my personal life, but I officially love being a part of the Mom Club. More specifically, the club for moms with babies.
In an effort to find myself again and become comfortable in my new role as a mother, I joined a local mom group on Facebook. Many of these women I have never met, some I have met a couple times and others just once. I have been a member of the group for over a month now and am shocked to admit that these women have honestly changed my life. I never realized before just how important networking with others just like you is. Of course, we are all different in our parenting styles and beliefs. We all come from different backgrounds, made different life choices and have chosen different career paths, but it is amazing how there is never a moment of silence on the rare occasion we do get together. It is amazing how much everyone supports each other, total strangers, because we are all members of the Mom Club.
I met these women for happy hour last night for the second time since joining the group. I would like to think that I wasn't the only one that felt completely relaxed for the first time in.....uh....exactly. I have close friends with kids, but their children are all school aged and older, and although many of them have multiple children, I sometimes think they forget what it is truly like to have a new baby at home. The memory is too distant in their minds. The lifestyle is no longer fresh and all they have left now is looking back on those days faintly, perhaps forgetfully, filling in the holes with what they think that time was like. But let me tell you, unless you're going through it NOW, don't try to relate to me. I don't care that you've been there. I don't care that you had it worse. I don't care that you had more kids. I'm going through it now. You can no longer relate to me. You don't remember EXACTLY what this is like.
Enter: Mom Club. I've kept this local Facebook group to myself until today when I told a friend that I had met up with them last night for happy hour. Her response: Who are you?
Love it!
This is the new me. The recovered, medicated, genuinely happy me. I do need mom friends. I need women in my life who are going through what I'm going through today, not ten years ago. I will appreciate my friends experience when I need their help, when I need their advice, when I need two hours of their time to share a bottle of wine with me so we can be adults and complain about our jobs and talk about our summer vacation plans. But right now, I need to revel in the fact that I am not alone and that there are other women experiencing what I'm experiencing, that there are other women who barely sleep at night because they're too busy staring at their baby monitors too, that there are other women who are sick of writing out checks for a ridiculous amount to their day care centers, that there are women who are home every night of the week with a cranky, poopy baby that needs to go to bed at a very specific time because God forbid they get off schedule by even 15 minutes!
And I am glad I am a member of this Mom Club now. I am glad that I have accepted that being a member of this club does not mean thwarting off unwanted advice, but to connect with others that are where I am in life. This Club has taught me to be more appreciative, happy, outgoing, brave and strong. This Club has given me a second chance at being a better me.
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