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It was just a regular Friday. The kids were at school and me, home from work, taking care of the house. Groceries purchased, put away and dinner ready by four o’clock. I was showered and made up, including mascara- ooh-la-la!
There was a happy hour to attend to, and I was going to get my social on. The clincher-I didn’t know a single person there. I was a first timer in a new group. It was time to take a deep breath, throw all inhibitions to the side of the pool and take a dive.
This isn’t the first time I have gotten my feet wet, attempting to network and meet new people. No, in fact this very forum, mom2mom, is the first place I have done this. It started with joining the website, jumping in to a few posts with a random comment here or there. Eventually, with kids in tow, I waded out a little deeper and went to a meet-up, where I befriended some fantastic moms.
Moms that I have something in common with, others I might not-but still we were linked by a common bond, motherhood. Social networking, aka Facebook, has solidified some of these friendships. Yes, it is nice to have coffee together but there is still comfort in virtual hurrahs, condolences, words of advice and the constant flow of pictures that keep us connected to one another through the World Wide Web.
Up until a few months ago, this seemed to be enough-working full-time, taking care of the kids mixed with a few weekly hours of volunteering, plus all of the other things that go along with being mom. This and my network of mom friends should have been enough-right?
Something was missing-it didn’t feel right. I hadn’t been honest enough, true to the people around me, nor to myself. I said out loud to someone something that I hadn’t said in a very long time. A few weeks passed-the words came out again, this time to another, one who I believe understood. I needed to network, a little deeper, beyond the mom-club.
One evening, while doing some online writing research, I came across a meet-up forum in Kansas City that has lots of different groups. If you are a book reader, dog lover, food eater or someone who just loves to get together and laugh, you can network with others exactly like you-or not. The point is, you don’t have to go far to find there is a connection.
So I found a group of women that met my specific qualifications, and the first meet-up was only a couple of weeks away, which led me to that happy hour Friday, complete with a stomach full of butterflies. I had the new-girl syndrome that slowly went away as I shook hands, learned new names and shared my story over and over to new faces.
A few of us were moms, most were not, and for me that didn’t matter. It was about fulfilling a need I had inside, this big desire to network physically, beyond the internet and into the real world. This is about something that I want to stand up and shout out loud, to declare, but I am currently content to sit back and watch myself evolve. I am willing to wait and see how the changes unfold. Ambiguous, yes-but I am content with that.Pretty soon I will be getting ready to suit up again for another happy hour. I am no longer the new girl, I am carrying few less butterflies and this time the dive I take will require a much smaller breath, because I am not staying under the water-I intend to play.
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