The important relationships in my life are my girlfriends. I’m a rich woman, in that I’m surrounded by a small group of smart, talented and caring women. Some of my girlfriends were with me in diapers, some I met more recently while we changed our children’s diapers.
In recent years my girlfriends have been in two distinct groups, one with children, one without. I’m forty, and most of my friends are close to my age, so no one was having babies these last few years. My girlfriends are all good mothers. I’m too picky, and too content alone to be around women who aren’t good mothers.
Recently one of my girlfriends had a baby, and I’ve got to watch her change from being a woman to being a woman and a mother.
And she’s good at it. Really, really good. And it makes my heart swell. Because it’s the first time in a long while that I’ve been privileged with watching the transition, and it’s the first time I’ve been able to watch it from a distance.
It’s lovely.
If I could roll around in the love and admiration I have for my girlfriends (that are girlfriends not because of our kids) and the way they parent I truly, truly would. While I think I was a fantastic mom of itty bitty babes, I was so scared and worried. Now that I can see how you can parent expertly and be relaxed it makes me love my girlfriends even more.