Ode to the Stay-At-Home-Mommy

I ran across the funniest thing in a magazine I read the other day called "Cookies" - no doubt. My mother-in-law gave me this subscription and it has some really good articles in it. I LOVE magazines because they are such a treat when I get to sit down and read them. I save them up for special occasions, flights, times when I have to sit in the car and wait on someone, late nights when the house is all clean and nothing else to do with myself at 10:00 (this SO happens all the time....right). I just love the mindless reading of it all. No plot to follow. No characters to remember. Just relaxing fun recipes, tips, beauty product suggestions, clothing "must-haves" and surveys. Now - I actually can't remember ever taking a survey in a magazine before unless perhaps I was 16, but even then I am unsure. However, this particular survey cracked me up and made me laugh out loud a bit because of it's target audience. The survey is called "Will you Be my Friend? The opening paragraph to prep you for the survey is this:

"It was easy to find friends in my 20s: Are you good for a laugh over margaritas after work? If my boyfriend dumps me, will you stop by with a copy of Working Girl? You like Tribe called Quest? I like Tribe Called Quest! Then kids came along, and now there's no time to get to know someone, except at drop-off, it got me thinking: Wouldn't it be great (and efficient) if soul-mate material could be detected with eight simple questions? Then I'd know right away whether to take it to the next level with another mom or to just continue casually playdating." --- Sally Schultheiss

Ok. So. I have always joked (I remember specifically with my friend Sue in D.C. now CA) that trying to find a really close friend or "soul sister" kind of friend is so like dating. You keep meeting new women here and there and you never have time to truly get to know all of them, but you wish there was a way to REALLY get to know the right mom quickly and start that friendship that goes deeper than just the "surface" friendships we all have a million of. I am one of those gals that loves to have a lot of friends that you can share different experiences with and people that you can contribute to as a friend and they can make you better as well, but I have to admit that I am also one of those girls (aren't we all?) that is on a perpetual mission to find that friend that "gets you" and that you "get them" and all the jokes each of you make totally make sense to the other one. I LOVE those kinds of friends because they make life way more fun, richer and stronger, but obviously not every awesome mom you meet is that kind of friend. So, this survey made me laugh because I thought - wouldn't it be hilarious if you could really pass these out and cut through all the small talk and be like "let's see sister what you are really all about here or if we are going to start driving each other nuts in about 3 play dates and 4 trips to the zoo." :-) If you are up for a laugh, go here to take the survey just for fun.

I have lived in a lot of states and have met a lot of AMAZING friends in my short little life of (nearly) 32 years, but I can only count about 3 or 4 soul sisters that I could totally be myself with and vice versa. That is the slice of life that I love and cherish and I know God meant for us to have those kinds of friends. I am almost passionate enough about what friends do for our lives and our spiritual walks and our marriages, and, and, and....that I need to start writing a book or doing a seminar on the subject. As I have stated in a previous blog post about friends - they can make life way more fun, way more interesting and way more joyful. Start passin' out some surveys my fellow stay-at-home-mommas! Nighty-night.