Friendship and Parenthood
Many people find the beginning of parenthood marks the sudden decline of their friendships. Babies are constantly needy and deprive you of sleep, energy, and coherence. Toddlers, when awake, need constant monitoring; and even their sleep must be prioritized in your schedule. Preschoolers are fast and fearless and can disappear in an instant because of a whim. And for all of them, their constant stream of needs and your constant stream of worries, day and night, can completely shut down your ability to think of any other topic. But somehow, although all of those things are true about my two kids, that does not describe my experience. And I'm forever grateful for that, because increasing my already unbearable feelings of isolation just might have killed me. Somehow, in the haze of new parenthood, I actually connected to a group of other new moms. Maybe it was because they were in a similar haze, and we were all in the trenches together...