I never thought I’d be a stay at home mom.
And actually, I still don’t really feel like one. I feel like a working mom who just isn’t working right now. (WMWJIWRN?) For the time being, I know that this is where I am meant to be, and knowing that brings me peace. Do I want to be a stay at home mom forever? No. Do I want to work full time? No. Ideally, I’d like to work part time and be home part time. We’ll see how all that pans out.
As an introvert and a homebody who moved to a brand new state while pregnant and unemployed, making social connections has been a challenge. When left to my own devices, I will stay at home and watch TV, read, blog, clean, do projects around the house (in addition to parenting duties, of course)…and to get out with the kid, we’ll go to story time at the library, grocery shop (which I generally hate doing), walk/run (hate running, but it’s free), or try to arrange a play date with another mom (Which is SO MUCH HARDER than one might think. Babies, and their weird, ever-changing schedules never sync up when you want them to). That’s about it.
When Dylan was 8 weeks old, we started going to story time at our local library. That has been our saving grace, pretty much. For a long time, it was Dylan’s only social interaction with other kids, and it was/is my way of trying to awkwardly make new mom friends in the area.
And I’m not kidding about the awkward part. It makes me feel like I’m still in grade school, cuz all I wanna do is raise my hand during a lul in the action and quietly ask if anyone wants to be my friend and come over to play. Pretty please with a cherry on top.
And then a lovely fellow mom lady came in to story time and announced she was starting a support group for moms. It was during a time I could make (which was practically any time, honestly) and kids could come along. Oh thank goodness.
Note: I wrote the following two paragraphs several months ago, but wanted to keep them in here as I edit and add to this for posting.
I’ve been going now for 4 weeks and, while we haven’t really talked about anything deep or mind blowing…it’s been SO NICE. I’ve left each time feeling so much calmer and more connected than before, and I find myself looking forward to it all week.
And it just hit me today that I’ve never actually been in a support group that wasn’t being run by me. Come to think of it, I’ve led or co-led a good number of support groups and it’s a lot of work. It’s draining and takes up a lot of my energy and concentration. To be on the receiving end of a support group feels…incredibly comforting.
Sometimes I wonder about getting back into therapy for myself. Like, as a client. Goodness knows I could benefit from it. The first time I ever went to therapy was precipitated by being in my therapy master’s program – I figured that I should know what it’s like to be in therapy as a client if I planned to actually do it. So that got me into therapy, but the main issues we talked about swirled around the fact that I, like now, felt like a fish out of water.
I had just moved across the country, living outside of California for the first extended time, Brian and I had just moved in together, and I was working on launching from my family of origin in what felt like slow motion. Everything was new, and adjusting was hard.
The feeling is familiar, but with one difference. I knew that living in Boston was temporary. Now, living in Oregon, we’re here to stay for the foreseeable future. I didn’t see my life ending up here. I didn’t see being a stay at home mom, either. And that’s okay. I mean, how can I possibly be expected, or want, to predict how my life will go? I’m just dealing with all these changes the best way I know how.
NaBloPoMo Day 17
Psychobabble 