Day 98 - Reach Out And Make A New Friend

Since becoming a parent it is rare for me to make a friend that is not somehow connected to my kids. When they were little, my friends were all the parents of their playgroup members. When they were in preschool I joined a MOMS Club which provided me with nearly 100% of my friends. Since they started school, I have developed many friendships with the parents of their classmates. I appreciate all of these friendships and consider all the women that I have met through my children to be invaluable in my life. Simply stated, without these women, it would be so much harder to get through the tough times that parenthood can present.

That said, I will be the first one to say that sometimes I need a friend in my life with no kids, no connection to the "mom"part of my life. I recently became acquainted with someone who fills this bill. We have found that we have much in common and I find that when we run into one another or find ourselves at an event together, I talk about more than my day to day life. What a concept! There is more to me than being a mother.

My goal is to reach out to her and to more people who don't fill the role of parent of my kids friends and make some friends on my own. This probably seems really petty to some. But, I am painfully aware of the fact that when my kids move on, maintaining friendships with 90% of the parents I have met over they years will probably be difficult. I need to be developing my own friendships in addition to revisiting friendships that existed before I became a mom. For example, my friendships from high school have been difficult to maintain. I am trying to reconnect with some of those people. Facebook makes it easier, but I am finding that I don't like Facebook as much. That will be for different post though.

Here is to starting to break away a bit from my kids for a social life and developing my own.