You, too?

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."  ~Tenneva Jordan

I never expected it to be the case, but being a mother gives me an instant community in the world.  Mothers, although we are sometimes temperamental and  judgmental creatures, at least consider ourselves to be in a sisterhood with every other woman who has ever raised a baby.  


Now I'm an outgoing enough woman as it is; I chat with bank tellers and cashiers wherever I go.  I feel like people deserve some friendly interaction during the day, and I'm enough of a chatterbox that I frankly enjoy talking to strangers- I'm like my dad that way, although his favorite strangers to engage are museum guides.  But at any given day, at any playground, library, grocery store, or other location where one is likely to meet a mom, I will have at least a brief, if not fairly personal conversation with every mother I run into.


We usually begin by comparing child ages: "She's a year, how old is yours?" and numbers: "Yup, she's our only one" and move on to discussions of age-appropriate behaviors: "She started walking at 9 months, which I was really in no hurry for her to do!"  But I have discussed subjects as intimate as stretch marks and breastfeeding with women whose names I never learned.  Because a mom is a mom is a mom; we get it.


When I think of how many women in the world are mothers, it staggers me that I belong to a community that large.  It's probably why "mom blogs" are so popular - it's a way of knowing that someone else knows what you're going through, a witty and well-spoken stranger at the park that you don't have to leave your house to enjoy.


Happy Mother's Day, mommy friends of mine, and moms who I do not know, but who are standing by the swing-set of my blog for a friendly chat.  You are all amazing.