Chick-fil-a Mom’s Club

“I never know what to say when people ask me what my hobbies are…I mean I am a mom. I enjoy trips to the bathroom alone and silence.” -Unknown and Sheena East

Motherhood is like being part of a very special, secretive, confusing, girls only group where everyone is in competition to be President of Crazytown. If you are wondering, I am currently ahead in the polls. The last 2 years I have desperately and almost solely relied on Jesus, mom friends, Facebook groups, and YouTube to get me through motherhood. I declare this with zero shame and I wish I had it on a shirt.

Have any of y’all taken your kids to the chick-fil-a play place? It never fails that the group of mommas over by the play place window strike up conversations sharing stories, experiences, tactics, tips, tricks, you name it. Chick-fil-a isn’t just a place where you can get delicious chicken and holy nectar (chick-fil-a sauce), it’s also a plethora of mom knowledge! This past week I was there watching Bronx, listening to the conversations around me, throwing in my 2 cents every now and then and I felt this “thing”. It was an emotion I really felt like I could reach out and touch. These were my people. My extended tribe of sorts. They were desperate for validation. They wanted to be heard. They just wanted to laugh and chat with another adult. They were so like me. Moms, we NEED other moms. Women who aren’t moms, you need other women. We need them and they need us to say, “I’ve been there, done that, and we are all going to be ok!”

Find your tribe. Love them hard.

My plea to you all  is this: In the craziness of life and motherhood don’t neglect your friendships. My dear darling ladies, trust me. You need them. I have an excellent tribe of friends. I am blessed, lucky, fortunate…insert all the adjectives. These girls are vital to my life. I don’t see all of them or talk to all of them everyday or even every week but their friendships speak life and death over me. Life to my dreams, death to my insecurities, life to my roles as wife and mother, death to my fears.

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul -Proverbs 27:9

These 6 months after my sweet baby Knight have been hard to say the least. Yowza. Emotionally I have really struggled. I have been extremely anxious, overly temperamental, sensitive, tense, high strung, easily offended, anti-social. Y’all pray for Cliff. Seriously. He’s been living with a hormonal lunatic. God gave me grace when he gave me Knight. He is the best baby. I never knew an infant could be so low maintenance. Isn’t it great how He knows us and gives us what we can handle? I really just believe God knew where I would be and said, “I am gonna cut that girl some slack!”. The biggest thing I have learned the last 6 months is that good friendships heal you. These ladies, their struggles, their understanding, their encouragement, their prayers have carried me and I am slowly but surely coming back to myself. Their sweet friendship refreshes my soul.

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend- Proverbs 27:17

Find iron. Ladies you can be yourself with, laugh until your side hurts with, go to war with, cry with, pray with, dream with. Find a friend who you can just sit and drink a good cup of something hot with and talk about nothing. Pay attention to the ladies in your circle. Send a note to someone who has gone missing. Throw a lifeline to that new mom. Grab lunch with someone you have been too busy to connect with. Find someone who needs you. Go join the Chick-fil-a Mom’s Club. You won’t regret it.