New Discoveries where you least expect them
So I'm writing an article for a magazine. Amongst the array of parents I'm interviewing, I've decided to talk to one of my very good friends. She just sent me back her responses and I'm stunned. She shared an awful lot of information about her early days of motherhood and I realized as I read that I knew so little of it. She and I were at different points in our lives when her first child was born - she was a new Mom and I was struggling to get pregnant. We spoke during that time, but its was always brief and over the phone as she found her footing in her new world. We didn't actually get together face to face until she was well into the second half of her first year of parenting.

Here we are just over 5 years later and I learn so much more about her. Is it odd that I ache to reach out to that past version of her and just hug her tight. I know that there is no way the me of 5 years ago could have offered adequate support to her then. There was just no way I'd understand the notion of leaving a child with others while you go to work or dealing with that first fever, first thunderstorm, etc. There is no way I could have identified enough to be able to say the right thing or realize that sometimes the right thing to say is nothing at all.

I think today I will call her and I will tell her how much I love her as a person and idolize her as a mother. She's such a fantastic example of both roles. Amazing what a little side work can teach you. Here I thought I was just embarking on a new side trip of my career and instead what I've done is expanded my understanding of those around me. How lucky I am.