Friendship Day--Oct. 4th Meeting Recap

When I became a brand new mom, over 6 years ago now, my life changed dramatically.  I went from teaching math to 6th graders and having interactions with adults (well, as much as any teacher manages, anyway!) to being alone with this tiny new person who couldn't carry on a conversation with me.  Motherhood with a newborn is unique in that you are never alone, but often feel lonely.  I suddenly felt like I was back in middle school again, trying to figure out how to make friends.  I would take my son to the Amazing Newborn Clinic--mostly to just get out of the house!--get him weighed, and then awkwardly perch myself on one of the couches while other moms chattered on around me.  I had lived in the area for three years, but didn't know anyone.  It made me feel like I was standing in the middle of a crowded cafeteria back on the first day of school, holding my tray and trying to figure out how to insert myself into someone else's clique without looking like a total dork. After almost a year of trying and failing to make any true connections, a door finally opened for me. I was invited to come to MOPS. Through MOPS, I have made SO many wonderful friends and found a community of other moms that I can relate to and who have helped me to grow in my faith.  My personal motivation to serve on the Steering Team is to help create opportunities for other moms to make connections and build friendships with others, and it means so much to me that I can give back to the organization that has given me so much. 

At our October 4th meeting, we hoped to help set each of you up with some building blocks to start to grow these new friendships! Each of you filled out a "Friendship Ad" for our directory.  It included basic information like names and ages of your kids, address, email, and phone number, but we went a little further than that.  We also asked you to tell us 1 goal, 2 of your favorite foods, 3 places you love, 4 things you do for fun, and 5 words to describe you. Our hope is that as you read through the directory, you find something you have in common with someone else, or something interesting that prompts you to strike up a conversation with someone new!

After filling out the friendship ad, we moved on to our succinctly-titled "Not-Quite-So-Speedy Speed Friending", or NQSSSF, if you prefer... ;)  We've done some speed-friending in past years, but decided to allow more time between switches to give each of you an opportunity to get into a deeper conversation with each person you were able to talk to. We also gave you some more interesting topic starters, including:

• What would you do differently or do more often if you knew nobody would judge you?
• If you were in charge of giving words of wisdom to new parents before they take their baby home from the hospital, what things would you tell them?
• If you had to spend the rest of your life in a TV show, what show would you choose and what sort of role would you take on and why?
• If you became a super hero, what would you want your super power to be and how would you use it?
• What experiences or things from your childhood have you or do you plan to share with your own child(ren)?
• If your husband surprised you with a free weekend off to go on your own and do whatever you wanted, where would you go and what would you do?

I want to challenge each of you to talk to someone new at our next meeting. You might be talking to your new best friend! :)