So what if it's awkward. Or that people will judge you. Everyone is awkward, and everyone - barring those more evolved than you and I - is judgmental. That sentence sounds awkward, doesn't it?
Anyway, I had my first "meet-up" today with the mom's group I started here in Frederick. I simply had a few ladies and their children over to my house for coffee and hummus. Good combo, no?
I began this mother's group since Frederick seems to have a shortage of them. And, since the vital lesson I learned last summer was that other stay-at-home moms are essential to your survival. It's hard enough not to feel like Betts from Mad Men, smoking up a storm and telling her little rug rats to "go watch TV." So to speak.
In other words, the feeling of being on a remote island can take over when too much time is spent alone with a baby or a toddler. If you saw Castaway, you get the idea. Those who already have kids, don't even need these references.
So there I was, standing in my kitchen/sitting room among three strangers and their kids, serving coffee and hummus. Introducing everyone, like I am introducing one group of friends to another. Awkward. But, still OK. It went fine, and I enjoyed everyone - and their kids - which rarely happens, even in a group that small.
We're all strangers in a strange land, anyway, right? Meeting new people felt exactly the same when I was in Atlanta, my home of twelve years, as it did in Frederick, MD, my home of just over twelve days. Still the awkward silences. The not knowing whether I should be "the hostess." Whether I was who they expected? Do I sound stupid? Have I asked each person enough questions? Still the same humanness, at its best.
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