9.07.2015

Mommy Monday: Making New Mommy Friends


I see her over there pushing her baby in the swing. 
She's laughing and tossing her gorgeous hair behind her. 
I admire her boots, her gorgeous rain coat 
and wonder how she fit into those skinny jeans 
when her baby can't be any older than 6 months. 

Suddenly I feel frumpy. 
My hair is in a messy bun 
and I am wearing my husbands old football hoodie as a coat. 
I'm wearing yoga pants, again, and have no make up on. 
I want to crawl into a hole. 
Please don't notice me, I think to myself. 

Moments later my super friendly preschooler 
has approached the mom and baby and is chatting away to them. 
I keep my distance and play with my baby on the teeter totter. 
Though soon enough I feel the need to go over 
and make sure they don't mind the extra company of my daughter. 

Her smile is warm and friendly. 
She doesn't let on that my appearance is anything but put together. 
She inquired about my children and I ask about hers. 
It didn't take long before we were in a deep conversation. 

We both connected over our struggle to conceive. 
Hers with her first and I with my second. 
They are new to town and she hadn't met many friends yet. 
An hour passed before we parted ways. 

Now that I have lived here for a couple of years 
and have met a few other moms, 
I am finding that all it takes is a little courage to say hi first.
I am learning to let go of trivial things like messy buns 
and over-sized sweaters to reach out and say hello. 
We are moms, we don't care about that stuff.
We meet each other in some other universe. 
As moms we can connect on levels as low as boogers and lack of sleep, 
or as load bearing as birth stories and infertility. 

Making new friends at this age is similar to dating. 
It's uncomfortable and fear of rejection. 
How do we move from meeting at a playground to scheduling a play date, 
or even a moms night out? 
Do we switch phone numbers or email addresses? 
What if we get business cards made? 
How do we go that much deeper and grow a friendship? 

The same courage it took to say hello. 

You just do it.
 It might be so incredibly awkward,  
but you may be so incredibly thankful you did. 

(via huffingtonpost)

Comment below telling us about a friendship you made meeting at a playgroup or playground 
and you could win a Starbucks card to take that friend for coffee! 
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Valid only within Canada and the United States.
Must be 13 years or older to enter.
Must comment on the blog
or the photo on Instagram to enter.
Contest closes Wednesday 10am PST.


4 comments:

  1. This is story is so sweet! I hope to find a friendship like this with another mommy friend! My son is only 8 1/2 weeks old so I haven't had much opportunities to meet other moms. I am however bonding with my own mom over her 1st grandson! We laugh at all the similarities my baby and I have when I was a baby.

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    1. Congratulations Jamie! You've won! Please email me at sm.smid@yahoo.ca to claim your prize!

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  2. Loved your post! It is so true!
    My mother in law told me how important it was for her to make mom friends as she didn't have family around. We so do not have any family living in the same city as us. Mine are a 5 hour drive and my husbands is a 5 hour flight. So I forced myself out of my comfort zone and found a mommy meetup on social media. All the moms had already known each other for several months so I was quite intimidated. I went anyways and so glad I did as I met one of my closest friends now. We have gone through so many of parenthoods ups and downs together and she had become such an important person in my life.

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  3. Great post! It's so inspiring and extremely true! We have no family who live anywhere near us. The closest is a 5 hour drive... Then a 5 hour flight. So I had to force myself out of my comfort zone to make friends. I found a mommy meetup on social media and was intimidated in going as everyone knew each other for several months already. I went anyways and so glad I did as I met one of my closest friends that day. We have gone through so many of parenthood a ups and downs together. She has become such an important friend whom I can call and will understand what I'm going through. So glad to have met her!

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