Find Your People

Last night reminded me of why I am doing this and why I felt the need to take what is in my brain and share it with the world. My older sister is in town, and we threw her a small, girls-only birthday party. My best friend, whom my sister has known for decades, and then my 'mom friends,' people whom I have just found in the past few years. We are a group of women who range in age, employment status, and life experience, but have the common thread of having children in the same community. From the outside looking in, we were the stereotypical suburban mum group on a Saturday night, drinking wine and singing at the top of our lungs to 80s/90s hits. An easy target for people to roll their eyes at our middle-class bubble in our sleepy suburban home with our 2.5 kids and picket fences. In reality, we are a group of warriors. Having fought a multitude of life battles, I am still here, ready for the next thing life throws at us. Like every single person on this planet, navigating life without a handbook, winging it most of the time, trying to succeed on good days and not sink on not-so-good days. The magic of last night was for a few hours; we were doing those things together. No judgment, no agenda, just there having a good time and celebrating my sister (who most had only met maybe once before), celebrating each other. Simply making a choice to be happy in that moment, which actually is not that simple at all. It is hard to choose happiness, to choose to laugh, to choose to let go and not hold so tight. Having your people around you can make it so much easier. Find your people, hold on to them, and be there for them. It may be for a moment, a season, or a lifetime, and that's ok, friendships evolve as we do, but no matter where you are in life, find your tribe....they need you too.