Is there anybody out there?

When I finally decided to do a blog, I thought of it not so much of me and my ever running mouth spewing information out into space, but more of a conversation starter. Like my friends and I sitting around, having coffee or a glass of wine or even light apps :) BS-ing or venting, laughing together even crying together.

I have been lucky in my life to be blessed by AMAZING FRIENDS. They are all around me, in my family, at my kids schools, in my neighborhood :) Some of my closest friends are the same friends as I made through my school years and others when I became a mom. I have seemed to fall into friendships at these different stages in my life and have felt so glad that those friendships have helped get me through these phases and still endure. We all need people we can rely on, turn to, confide in and just enjoy. It is with that theory that I started this blog.

When Joe and I got married my biggest thing was to have everyone I loved together. To celebrate this occasion quietly and privately was not my style. I was 21 and we had a ball. Planning the wedding was just the beginning, With our friends we talked about everything! Where our lives would go and how we'd all be together still, raising families and always having fun :) We have definitely moved through the years at different paces. Rooting each other on every step of the way. Many a late night or long weekend has been spent playing, eating, laughing, crying and answering the hard questions, who is a better dancer? Who can eat the most cupcakes or grapes? Who can climb the roof fastest? Who can make the best itinerary? You know who you are :) We really are still there for each other- on the phone, by text or emails hit reply all. It can get pretty hilarious... But we are so lucky to still be so connected to one another. We are spread out on a map, but close in heart enough still to consider ourselves chosen family :) Life would not be the same with out them.

When I had Keegan at 22 none of my friends were married yet, let alone having kids. Though surrounded by people who loved me I felt very lonely. Lucky for me I found a group of friends through work and mutual acquaintance that saved me. They all had babies around the same time as us and in order. Boy Girl Boy Girl oh wait... They all had two and we improved the average by having 4 :) Anyways. We girls would meet for coffee often during the week. Talking about babies not sleeping, laughing about things our kids had done and how the effects of the birth of said kids had effected our once HOT BODS (HAHA) asking questions and bitching about our husbands (wait did I say that out loud?) just talking about life! Then once a month or every few weeks as needed we would have dinners with the husbands and kids. All reveling in our new found family life but happy to know that though all of us never once doubted that we loved our families, we also felt safe enough to speak honestly about what we were encountering, free of judgment. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. It was scary to be the first to have a baby and I loved the camaraderie. We are all busy now and at different schools, some are back to work, or on different schedules. We try to keep in touch and though free spaces on the calendar are few and far between we do our best to make it happen. I know that even though we don't see each other all the time, like back in those carefree, schedule free, first days of motherhood, we all feel the same:)

I have said to my friends and others about them, many times, I don't know what I would have done without all those coffee dates, dinners, long weekends and late nights. The 2 hour phone conversations where you know the person listening on the other line, loves you and is there for you no matter what! I continue to form friendships as new chapters of my life open. I know that we are in each others lives at that moment for a reason and feel happy to know from past experience that though those reasons may not be there forever, it will never lessen the need for one another and the gifts we are granted by forging that bond.

This blog I feel is a chance to get back to this again, and also invite those who do not have that in their physical life into our little virtual coffee group, dinner group, wine group, Diet Coke group or whatever you want it to be:) It's not just for mothers, or fathers or women or men in particular. I want it to be for any of us humans. Any human who is in need of a connection. Technology seems to give us this outlet but it can be so faceless and impersonal.

So!
I think you are listening? I can see the number of people that click on a little CRAZY WONDERFUL every day. So unless my mom is just sitting there clicking on it to make me feel better:) You aren't right mom?!?!

I invite you to join me. Speak up! I am not a preacher, I am not an expert (by any means) I am a talker and I am a listener; who has some experience in the daily happenings of a 30 something parent, spouse, friend, daughter, sister and person. So please join the conversation!

Is there anybody out there?