Those days a trip out of the house required more gear than I believed possible for someone who weighed under 10 lbs, but off we went - giant stroller, boppy, several back up bottles, breast pump, three changes of clothes for both of us, me, and a baby. And I often had to return 2-3 times in those days to retrieve some important item I'd forgotten.
I arrived at the hospital annex on time, of course (you don't spend 10+ years in fundraising without arriving everywhere on time - it's an occupational hazard), and there was another new mom sitting in the foyer of the meeting room. I don't remember much about that day. However, I do remember that her daughter was sleeping peacefully in her car seat, while mine was checking out his surroundings with big open eyes. That and she was wearing stripes.
Writing about those first moments today makes me want to laugh out loud at how odd it sounds, but that moms' group taught me about motherhood in a way I cannot explain. Those women were my sanity. The provided a place to celebrate mundane trials of solutions to diaper blow outs and new foods and crawling and walking and talking. The milestones on the charts and books and websites were nothing. It was REAL moms going through things in REAL time that mattered. They were my life raft in waters I did not know how to navigate.
I frankly expected that from a group such as that one. I knew we'd share stories that only new moms can share with one another. What I did not expect was that so many of them would still be such a gift three years later. That we are part of watching each others children grow. That we would be celebrating new siblings and work successes and new homes and new challenges.
I have no idea if we will still be part of one another's lives once our children begin to make their own decisions about who to play with, but I will be forever grateful to the women I met on the floor of the hospital out building.
That's the thing about friendships. You never know where it will arrive or where it will grow. Just for today, I will consider these women, and the others I have been lucky enough to meet the past three years, one of the greatest blessings of motherhood.
