It Takes A Village

It's hard to pin Mother's Day down, because every year it's different. First it's Kindergarten crafts you bring home to your own mom, then it's phone calls to her from your college apartment. Eventually it becomes your own: first when you're pregnant and anticipating what motherhood will be, and finally when you're in it, when motherhood is your reality.

No matter where we are along this evolution, as women, we can't help but be a bit sentimental on Mother's Day. Sentimental and appreciative. So today, this Mother's Day, I'm going to gush like only a mother can.

I am joined on this path of child-raising by five very close friends, and it's them who I want to pause and appreciate this year. (If you're reading this, you're probably one of them, but if not, please forgive the personalness of this post, I simply can't help myself.)

It's so easy to take your friends and family for granted. They're always there, a short car ride or phone call away. You see them all the time. But really, to have this close-knit circle of six such different women, who've all arrived at this place and time by their own circumstance, who've become so like family, is truly magical.

They are amazing women, each of them in their own way, and amazing mothers.

Raising and nurturing not only their own children, but all the others' as well.

As we weave this web of friendship and family, we teach our kids the value of community.
That burdens are always lighter when shared, joys are so much greater when multiplied, and that smiles are the best kind of contagious.

I think they're catching on.

So, thank you, my people, my girls, for all your love and support, for sharing your kids with me, and for taking such good care of mine. I love you all dearly.

And a Happy Mother's Day to you and yours.