The one about a village...

“There’s something really magical about your mom friends. Those are the friendships that make me feel like I still have a village in this time of real isolation. When I had my first baby, I met a group of mamas that I did all the classes with. We met at parks, we went for walks at the mall, but what saved me that year were the group texts. It could be two in the morning and you’re feeding your baby and you might have mastitis. You’re exhausted, isolated AND feeling really alone. And then guess what? Someone is there with you. I’d pick up my phone and text the group and more often than not, someone else was up. Mainly I’d just say ‘this fucking sucks,’ but someone would hear me. I wouldn’t be saying it to the night sky or to my sleeping husband. Somebody heard me. At the end of that year, the group kind of disbanded. Everyone had completed their mat leave and had to get back to their jobs or lives - a lot of us had seconds around the same time, but with your second, there’s not as much time to chill. The group messages have ebbed and flowed in the past few years but we have always stayed in touch - often on the daily - through those messages. I have mixed feelings about this digital age we live in but I am forever grateful to those group chats that save my life every time. So in Covid, I miss seeing people a lot, but I still have my village and I know that I can reach out any time and someone will hear me - and that’s a lot.”⁠