cheers

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got

Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot
Wouldn't you like to get away?


Sometimes you want to go - where everybody knows your name
and they're always glad you came
You wanna be where you can see - our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name

this song resonates with me on so many levels.  i must admit, i was probably made to be a small town girl more than i care to admit.  and while i resist by gravitating towards large cities (atlanta... chicago... san francisco), my heart is at home in some of the small town comforts.  i like walking into the grocery store and running into an old friend.  i love the honk and wave as you pass your neighbor while driving down the street.  you get my drift here.

during our short stint in the burbs of chicago, the one place where i really felt this way was at mops*.  i started mops last fall and really enjoyed it.  i don't know if those women have any idea of the role they played in my life, but to me, they were priceless.  you see, last fall my table mates and i began to get to know one another.  we established a comfort level with one another and a conversational ease.  it was easy to share things with these women.  and then my mom's accident happened... and then i found out we were pregnant... and then the house on the market thing... 

i usually play the role of "strong girl".  i try not to let much get me down and i am usually pretty good at declining help from anyone (the latter one being not such a great trait).  but something happened at mops.  each week i would walk in and someone would ask how things were.  when they asked i knew that they cared.  and so the flood gates would open.  i probably cried more in front of those woman than i have cried in my adult life.  they were always so gracious, so encouraging, and they loved me through the hard.  in essence, they were my life support in a time of turmoil.

i was so sad to leave them and to bid farewell to my "taking a break from all my worries" and my place of "where everybody knows your name"...  my personal cheers, if you will.

i knew right away that i had to find a mops out here.  and so on week two of living in calli, the girls and i headed to a random church.  nobody knew we were coming, nobody knew our names...  and i am happy to say, it has surpassed my expectations.  i don't have anything to weep about with this group of women (thankfully), but find them to be just as welcoming, just as supportive and ever so loving. 

and in the lonley of a new town, a new chapter of parenting, it's good to get away to a place where "they're always glad you came."

*MOPS is a program for mothers with kids under the age of 6.  the kiddos meet in age specific classrooms and have a story time, crafts and physical activity.  at the same time, the mommas meet in a room where they enjoy brunch, table talk time, and a guest speaker who talks about a topic that is of interest to moms.  it meets twice a month and is 2 hours in duration.  http://www.mops.org/  - find one in your neck of the woods.  i promise you won't be sorry!