Find all of my 31 Moments of Motherhood posts here.
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[Lights come up on a number of “scenes” set up on rolling platforms around the perimeter of the stage: a desk with a laptop, a folding chair, a stool with a cell phone on it, and park bench with a sack lunch sitting on it. Each has a thick rope tied to it. A woman walks on stage and stands in the middle.]
Me
[Grabs the end of the rope of the desk platform and pulls it to her. She leans over and starts to type.] “Hey Facebook Moms, struggling with potty training over here. Help!” [Her computer starts to ding, and as she reads silently, she starts to smile and nod.]
Me
[Stands up, grabs the end of the rope of the folding chair and pulls it to her. She sits down and starts to talk.] “Yeah, this is my first time at a MOPS group. [Listening] I’m just hoping that I make it through before getting called to the nursery! You too, huh?
Me
[Stands up and grabs the end of the rope of the stool and pulls it to her. She picks up the phone and dials a number.] “Hi Mom…what’s cookin’? I’m just home with the kids…yeah, you can hear them yelling in the background? It’s been a long day, and it’s only noon! Got any ideas?
Me
[Stands up, taking her phone with her, and grabs the end of the rope with the park bench and pulls it to her. She sits down and her text message alert beeps. Looking down at her phone, she returns the text. Yells to her child on the playground in the distance.] Five more minutes, honey, and we’ll have lunch, okay? Our friends are on their way.
[To the audience] The moments that I spend connecting with other moms who are either in the thick of it too or have been there before?
They are my lifelines.
They remind me that “this too shall pass” or commiserate that an hour playing make-believe can feel like a lifetime. They throw me a rope when I feel like I’m drowning through the simplest of gestures…a comment on a status update, a text message about nothing or a last-minute playdate at the park.
[She stands up, walks to the middle of the “scenes” and picks up the four ropes.]
I wouldn’t be the mom I am today without them.
[Lights down.]
