Becoming a single parent can feel isolating. At 22, I become a single mom who was trying to find my footing in a world of co-parenting, creating my own home, and raising my son. My friends were finishing college, starting careers, dating and enjoying their youth. It was easy to see that I was in a different place in life, but that didn’t push my friends away. It actually brought us closer. In those first years of exploring and struggling through my new life my friends were my rock and my reality check. Now, almost 8 years later, some of these great friends are celebrating Mother’s Day today as mothers themselves, others are excelling in their careers and starting new ones, and some are starting new chapters in their lives. All of them remain at the forefront of my mind when I think back to those early days and the instrumental part they have played in me and my son’s lives, and today I thank them.
My dear friend Quinn, who is my oldest and dearest friend from childhood, the reason I live in this beautiful city and the woman who was with me when I bought my pregnancy test over ten years ago. I made her go into the other room while I took my pregnancy test because I knew that as soon as I walked out of the bathroom that she would know what the test said just by looking at me, and I needed to tell Matt before I told her. While other friends could have thrown in my face all of the hardships I would face as a young mother, she cried in celebration with me and told me what a wonderful mom I would be. She has always been there for me and my son, and I adore that Christian knows his Auntie Quinn and looks forward to the fun times they have together. Quinn has always been a source of inspiration to me with the kindness and compassion that she treats everyone with, and I am so happy that Christian has Quinn to look up to and to learn from. Quinnie…I don’t know what life would be like without you, and I hope that I never have to.
Throughout my relationship with Matt, we became friends with an amazing group of people. After Matt and I split, I was afraid that I would have lost these girlfriends who had become so dear to me. Boy was I wrong. Jenny and Karrie insisted that I came and stayed with them until my new apartment was ready for me to move into after the separation. Throughout the next years, Jenny and Karrie would come over for dinner at least once a week to Chez Brooke and give me some much needed adult interaction when I had Christian and desperately needed a conversation that didn’t revolve around Bob the Builder and Legos. Dinner wasn’t always spectacular, but the friendships that developed are. Jen was my go-to night out escape. Jen was always there, and still is, when I needed to hash out my problems and to forget my worries with some sort of crazy fun. Jen and I spent nights talking on my back deck over a beer or late nights dancing into the early morning. Jeanette and Jamie are my fellow Aquarian soul sisters. There is nothing that these two women and I have ever disagreed on, and I know that when I just need someone to understand me, that these are my ladies. Jenny, Jamie and Jeanette are now all wonderful mothers, and I am so happy and thrilled to see that they are just as wonderful at being a mom as I always knew they would. Karrie’s dedication to making an amazing life for herself always makes me so proud, but not as proud of what a dedicated friend she is. Jen has, after a long road, just graduated college and is on her way to becoming an incredibly successful accountant. To my Girls Night Girls…I don’t know what Christian and I would have done without you in those early days. You saved me from myself, and C and I will always love you all to pieces. Continue reading »