Mothers Group

No matter how "cool" you think you are, or how widely diverse your interests may be, or how self-sufficient you consider yourself, or how little interest you think you may have in discussing your baby's bowel movements, Mothers Group IS for you. I really do think that whoever invented the concept of the Mothers Group was very clever... I find myself confiding all sorts of embarrassing secrets in a group of women I would never have otherwise had anything to do with, and looking forward to meeting up with them and not having to pretend to have a life outside of being Oti's Mama! It is so freeing to be able to sit with them, each of us with hair unwashed, each emitting a stinky, spewy whiff, each looking a little pale and puffy around the eyes, each in possession of a hear overflowing with newfound love. The women in my Mothers Group are all around 10 or so years older than me, they come from a variety of backgrounds and are in differing situations, yet we are all united by the overwhelming experience that is motherhood. Bek is in her early 40s, she is a jazz singer and a Montessori teacher and is incredibly friendly and frank. Then there's Ange, a university administrator who is so sweet and gentle, and Dijana, a Serbian software engineer who is fairly isolated and I think gets a lot out of the tentative friendships we are forming, and Kumi, who is Japanese and mother to a little doll of a girl. We had a yummy, simple lunch at Bek's today, and Bek and I were incredibly touched to witness our little ones start to explore each other and link hands for a few moments. The babies all lay and played on a mat on the floor and the mothers empathised with one another, listening with understanding ears and hearts to tales of impatient, ignorant husbands — no, I'm not referring to my own here — difficult mothers-in-law, nappy options, and the isolation-inducing breastfeeding schedules.

I actually offered to host them all back here in a fortnight! Ack! I swore I wouldn't entertain for another few months, but I have no fear of these women tsking at my messy place. They are understanding and unpretentious and I appreciate that. My friends, I adore, and I can't wait 'til I can share in their pregnancies and child-rearing, but, for now, I need to, on occasion, spend time with others in the same boat.