Returning to work has been very exciting for me. I’m proud of what I do, which is a great feeling and I love the people I work with.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t been as hard as I expected to get back into a routine of putting on clothes that don’t stretch and fixing a lunch in advance.

What’s been harder than I expected is the separation from my mama friends. We have a close-knit playgroup that started on meetup.com. The moms I call my best friends probably never would’ve crossed paths if not for that group. They are all completely unique, very loving and unwaiveringly supportive of one another.

Where are they now?

In the last couple months of the six I am closest to:

• 2 have had their second baby
• 1 is expecting her third next month
• 1 has had her third
• 1 has gotten a book deal for her 2^nd book (About.com knitting guide Sarah White)
• 1 has gone to work full time at Walmart corporate headquarters

And now they go on without me.

The first two years I lived in NWA I felt alone. Then I had a baby and felt very alone. A sweet girl named Kara told me about this playgroup she had organized online. When I checked it out, thinking it was probably a clique-ish group of 20 or so women from the same small town, I discovered there were over 150 moms involved! The message board was lively and these women were getting together all the time at different houses (not all 150 at one time) and different local play places.

A breath of fresh air

Nervously, I went to my very first meetup. Honestly, that play date just for moms of babies under one year old at Rene’s house may have been my first step out of a depression. Charlie was six months old at the time, Rene’s daughter was just a couple months ahead of her and all the rest were younger. We laid the babies on a blanket on the floor while we sat around them and talked about breastfeeding, sleeping, diapers, cloth diapers, baby toys and more.

One of our first play dates. Charlie is third from the right.

I felt like I could breath again.

Kara, if you read this I hope you know how important what you have done is. Thank you.

At a park meetup.com play date on a beautiful spring day

Even though I’m not able to go to play dates anymore those friendships are more valuable to me than I could ever explain.

Meeting people online isn’t as weird as your mom says it is.

If you’re a stay-at-home-mom and needing support check meetup.com and see if there is a play group near you.  Well, even if you’re not a SAHM there are meetups on meetup.com for just about everything.  Find others who are interested in the same things you are whether it’s hiking, sewing, or even blogging.