Life gets overwhelming sometimes. Between the working and the kids and the house and the sports and the  calendar…..but, in each busy month I have one guaranteed respite: My people. These women are my friends, but it didn’t start that way. We started as a group of moms with similar attitudes about parenting. And, the thing with a group of moms with a similar attitude about parenting is that none of us care what the other one looks like, or if they’re running late, or if they have a kid throwing a tantrum in the corner or if a cookie is thrown to a child to get them to JUST STOP! We would get together occasionally with the kids – parks, splash pads, the backyard –  nothing formal or fancy (we are not formal, fancy people) and a friendship began.

Once school started, we realized that on Wednesday mornings, from 9:30-11:45 we all had a free window of time with no kids and our monthly coffee dates began. This is one hour and fifteen minutes of judgement free time. Anything goes conversation-wise, we laugh harder than anyone else in the coffee shop and always walk out feeling a little lighter.

We always end up chatting about something one (or more, together we have 7) of the kids has done – but  then it’s mostly just random topics, venting about the stresses of life (even the little things) and lots of laughing. The coffee is always gone before we’re finished – and then it’s rushing out the door to get to pre-school or bus stops to pick up the kids. It’s refreshing and something I look forward to every month.