A Community of Women

I feel like thePrince song, "I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray…" It’s 12:25 am here at my desk at school, 11:25 if you have a Rogers cell phone and are signed up with the company who did not know that daylight savings time was extended an extra week. We are on day 15 I believe of no internet Chez Brooks and I am so far behind in all of my life that I thought I would just sit here at my desk at school until I got caught up. Well, 6 hours later, most of my marking is done but I have missed the open ’til midnight window at Shopper’s to get the last piece of the Gaffer’s, now known as Baby Snail’s costume. Can a purple glitter baby snail make it through Hallowe’en without antenna on a purple headband?  I guess we’ll find out in a few hours when she wakes up at 5 am in triple excitement mode for her first school Hallowe’en party; which by the way, is called a harvest celebration. That concept alone and the no store-bought costume edict that goes with it is enough to derail me this late at night, but the title of this blog is a community of women, so I should get back on topic.

I was inspired by Jen’s new blog. Have you seen it yet? Please, throw me a bone and at least finish reading mine before you click over. It is great and as I was contemplating how I was going to write about the weekend I just spent with my bookclub for our 10th anniversary, it helped me realize that the topic is so much bigger than a few hours at the baths of  La Scandinave in Collingwood (highly, highly, highly recommend!!!). 

Urbanmoms is a community of women. Those of us here who share our lives, experiences and woes with you as well as all the great ideas, knowledge and products that appear on the site and those of you who keep us busy, loved, supported and entertained with your comments and feedback.

It got me thinking about how many other communities of women have welcomed me. There’s my Babes with Books. We have read approximately 90 books together over the last 10 years, had 90 delicious meals, 11 marriages, 15 children, numerous career advancements and probably as many heartaches at one time or another. There are my Ooch friends. A group of women I met at a camp where it is impossible to be anything other than your best self and I rely on them to keep me to that in these years where is not in the logistics for us. There are the women with whom I work. A unique, brilliant and diverse group who constantly challenge me to read more, think more, talk less and be more patient. There are my two moms groups…I know, I’m a bit greedy. The North Toronto MOMS who band together in such selfless and supportive ways when a mom is in need, yet are just as ready to hit Safari for a long cool glass of wine and conversations about things that make me blush. And my public health group moms who saw me at my absolute worst with this tiny little Gaffer who wouldn’t nurse or grow no matter what I did. Each month as she flunked yet another developmental check up they would be there at the other end proudly showing me that none fo their full term children could draw circles or pick up cheerios either. And I have a cottage community, a ski community, several family communities and the friends I’ve had all my life who by virtue of still being my friend, deserve a community of their own.

What I love about all these communities is their inclusiveness.  Many of these women overlap from one group to the next. Lots of them belong to this on-line community as well. As women, I think we just naturally group. Even if there isn’t one around, we form our own. Something Jen discovered when she conceived urbanmoms. "(it) started as a community blog because I was so inspired by the amazing women I met after becoming a mom." And that’s our biggest community of all…moms.

Which either leaves me at the beginning of a whole new tangent or speaks for itself and lets me go to bed. I’m going to choose the latter and be forever disappointed that I could not think of a great segue into the greatest line ever from 1999 "I got a lion in my pocket, and baby he’s ready 2 roar!"

A ha! I did it! Good night! If you see me trick or treating tonight…that is not black make-up under my eyes and I am not trying to be anything but awake. If the Gaffer is in her princess dress and not her baby snail costume then mommy has spent the month in costume angst for nothing and will probably not have learned her lesson by this time next year.