I’ve talked a fair amount about my “village” here — the people who help me raise my kids, from both near and afar, particularly my closest mom friends. There’s Emma + Egon, our BFF’s who live in our neighborhood and are a vital part of our everyday lives here in Brooklyn, and there are Dre and Amber, who both live in Maryland but are still a part of my everyday life… via text message.
Ah, modern motherhood.
This is a pretty typical exchange, most likely sent late in the evening once the rest of the troops have gone down for the night:
Amber: We are three hot messes.
Me: For realz.
Amber: Only one solution. More Oreos.
Me: I ate my last two tonight and have moved on to wine.
Amber: Brownies and champagne for me. And I bought ice cream sandwiches tonight.
Dre: I want Oreos. We don’t have any brownies or champagne.
Me: Now I’ve moved on to Hershey kisses.
Dre: We don’t have chocolate. What kind of family are we? It’s un-American to not have chocolate.
Dre: Btw, we are the best mothers ever.
Dre: I’m pretty sure the three of us should co-author a book on being awesome.
Amber: Totally.
Dre: Or virtual villages. Our husbands are alive today because of unlimited texting.
It’s that last line that inspired this post because it’s true. In lieu of having a sister-wife to complain to in person, I have these ladies, always ready to hear my gripes — both the serious and the outlandish — and not judge me for them. I can text them about the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows and, most of the time, they respond with nothing but love and empathetic declarations of “Yep. Been there.”
And that’s all this mother really needs to get through the early years — people who offer unlimited love and support and help assure me that I’m just like other moms out there, quirks and all.
This past weekend, I had a chance to take my family down to Maryland to catch up with my virtual village in person for a change. We drank beer, ate delicious Cuban food (thanks to Amber’s mom!), stuffed our face with cake, chased both kids and chickens around the yard, and, yes, even sent a few texts back and forth. As we were packing up the car late Sunday evening and preparing to drive back to Brooklyn, all I could think was, “Man, I wish we could do this more often.”
So I texted them both from a rest stop and told them so.
Until next time, ladies!
[featured sling: Sakura Bloom Simple Silk sling in Aubergine and the Sakura Bloom Essential Linen sling in Raven~Driftwood]—–
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