Making friends in a new city is not easy, especially when you work at home and is a married mother of two under 2 years old.
But when I sent my children to the daycareI found some friends along the way that became like a family.
Find common links with foreigners
I crossed the paths with several of the same faces during Garden repair and pickup every day. I learned to cherish these micro-conversations during the verification of our children inside and outside, to grasp car seats and to look at teachers take out their pretty little finger paintings and artistic projects to bring home. These moments have created a link between us, in spite of ourselves, we are essentially foreign.
The daycare center had an interior playing space called The Treehouse, with events after working hours for parents and their children. It created the perfect opportunity to meet other mothers While helping my children (then aged 1 and 3) develop their social skills.
Tuesday evenings were our favorite. The theme was “Work it out” and $ 5 per child covered two supervised children for children in the trees while the moms obtained full training.
It has become a weekly tradition for my crew and two other mothers, Meredith and Christin, whose children were the same ages as mine.
It was The start of new friendships For me and what has now become friendships for life for my children. My children do not remember an era when they were not friends with the other children in Treehouse.
Share good, evil and madness of maternity, and more
When The Treehouse put an end to its events after the opening hours, our trio continued the tradition of Tuesday, organizing the houses of the other.
These Tuesdays have evolved into lunch dates, travel trips, game dates on weekends, Birthday celebrationsand a three -way text thread. We have often socialized, with and without our children.
Meredith and I surprised our children by meeting ourselves in Dollywood a summer day and still six flags several years later. We have a long -standing tradition of river tube every summer just before the start of the new school year. We gave Christin a baby shower and a meal train to welcome his second daughter. It is my go-to when I need help for school transport. And as the birthdays of our older boys are only three days apart, we plan their parties with each other.
Christin keeps an eye on my house when I am outside the city, nourishes my pets and gives me a voice of reason. She lived in our city much longer than me and knows everyone and everything that is going on, that’s why it is the first person to which I go when I have questions. She was a voice of reason for me more times that I cannot count.
The more time we spend together, the easier it was for me to make me friend with other mothers. Lauren, Andrea and Quintina have become familiar faces during birthday parties, park dates and game dates.
Our children have formed inseparable obligations because they often see themselves in and outside the daycare. Even if they have made new friends over the years, they are still closest to those of their preschool days.
The family is also the people you choose
Text thread is now a collaboration of eight people, and it is growing more and more. And think that I hardly chose daycare.
We have long been withdrawn from Tuesday, The Treehouse, and Day Care, and life has taken care for all of us. Most of our children play sports or take lessons in a way. One of our friends moved a few hours. Another crosses cancer.
But the distance, the unexpected hours and surprises of life cannot divide us. We always braid together, make craft evenings, celebrate birthdays (and soaps when each child’s birthday arrives), let’s talk about school and sports and plan outings.
Our children gathered us, but we have chosen to become friends. Now, more than eight years later, we continue to choose friendship despite the different roads we have traveled. We could go longer between visits or SMS, but we always know where to turn when one of us needs help, advice, an answer or just a friend.