Me and Amy

Moms are people too!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes as a mom, I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a precipice and all it’s gonna take is the slightest of breezes to hurl me over the side to the briars below.

With all the commitments we have —work, kids, church, fundraisers, balancing the checkbook, keeping the car running, paying the bills, remembering last-second science fair projects, taking the dog to the vet, finding clean underwear, lost backpacks and suicidal hamsters—it’s no wonder we feel stressed out.

We go to sleep worrying, have stressful dreams and wake up with a to-do list that never ends.

Let me take you back to a simpler time.

Channel your inner 7th grader

Remember your best friends during junior high? I had a couple of friends, Amy and Pearl, who I hung out with (and sometimes badly influenced). We taught each other stuff–Amy introduced me to my first bagel and cream cheese (carb lovers UNITE) and I explained the mystery of tampons.

Amy and I were in band together and collectively complained about it and loved it at the same time. We privately wrote off-color songs and poetry about some of the teachers. No I won’t admit which ones.  We tried to one-up one another with gross-out boyfriend suggestions. Ewwww.

Pearl and I alternately supported one other and competed with one another for the same boys, grades, and extra credit. We planned our futures: I was going to be either a high school band director (despite my tone deafness) or an attorney (because of my arguing skills); she was going to be a Nobel-prize winning scientist.

We listened to Brian Adams and George Michael (both before and after WHAM!), HATED country music, LOVED boys with mullets, binge-chewed Bubble Yum and cobreathed the same Bus 69 exhaust fumes together each day for three years. It’s a miracle we are not both suffering from extreme tooth decay and lung disease as a result.

Good times.

Some things change. I only  ride the yellow school bus as a chaperone (side note–they still smell EXACTLY THE SAME), prefer NPR, Joshua Bell and Hank Williams Jr.to anything 80s. I’m married now (to a very cute former mullet man), have three kids and am finished with school so the boys and grades thing…not so much.

Some things never change for us (I still give unsolicited advice and am still the Tampon guru–message me if you have questions). I teach composition instead of health and only just recently got over the fact that I never had a chance with George Michael.

One thing that never changes is this: we still need girl time, no matter what age we are. Here are 5 reasons you never stop needing girlfriends.

5 Reasons Why Moms Still Need Girlfriends

1. A good friend will listen to your harmless crazy schemes without judgement. Thinking about quitting your full-time job as an RN to sell gluten-free cookie bars on Etsy? Good idea! See you at work tomorrow.

2. A good friend will call you out when you’re about to screw up. If you confess to your friend you’ve been fantasizing about a coworker, and she thinks you mean it AT ALL, she will rip you a new one, and deservedly so. She wants the best for you and knows your hubby and kids, and may be able to predict your disastrous intentions before you even realize them.

3. Reconnecting with a good friend you haven’t seen in a while reminds you of the person you were without the kids, job, husband, responsibilities. Not that you don’t love your life…most of the time, you’re crazy about it…but it’s good to remember that other side of your identity. Take it out, dust it off, try it on. It’s still you. You’re still you.

4. A good friend inspires you. She tells you about her own struggles, and you give your sage (or sage-ish) advice. Helping others taps into something good about yourself. As you encourage her, you feel encouraged as well.

5. A few hours (or glasses of wine) with a good friend is battery charging. Laughing, gossiping, telling stories–it’s all free therapy.

DO IT.

So have some free time this weekend? Is there a couple of hours that’s not claimed by a soccer game, a karate practice, a church activity? Do you currently know Furball the hamster’s whereabouts? No science project/band concert/lost backpack?

Quick! Call one of your friends you haven’t talked to in a while. Buy a pack of Bubble Yum, a bottle of wine, and listen to Brian Adams (or Hank Jr., if you wish) and catch up. I promise you won’t regret it. The bonus: you’ll feel slightly less worried about falling off the precipice for another day.

What do you like to do on Girl’s Night? Where are your favorite hangouts?