When I was a young woman, I was very pretty. Not gorgeous or a knockout, but pretty. I’m not bragging, and believe me when I say those days are long gone. I usually got ogled by men and got dirty looks from women, and both were equally unpleasant. Its funny how invisible I am now, because when I was young I could feel the eyes following me everywhere. I had friends that were girls, and I felt really comfortable around other girls because I grew up with sisters. But I had only two close girl friends. Women just didn’t want to talk to me, and didn’t want me around. I was used to that.

I fell in love, got married and had a beautiful baby boy. I was completely in love with my baby, and since we couldn’t afford day care, I took him with me everywhere. I began to notice a big difference in the way I was looked at by the world. The men still looked, but, usually, not as long. The really big difference was how women looked at me. They would come up to me now, and talk and ask questions about my son. There was no hesitation on their part, they were so friendly! I didn’t know what to think. I hardly knew how to respond, it had been so long since I conversed with strangers. They would sit next to me at the park, the zoo, and events, smiling and chatting. They no longer gave me dirty looks, in fact, their smiles were open and welcoming. I still looked exactly the same, so what was going on here? Then it slowly dawned on me that I had joined “The Mother’s Club,” a club of women who knew without a word everything you were thinking and feeling, and they were not threatened by me anymore.

I’ve always been a kind of awkward person, not that great in social situations, even though I can talk to pretty much anyone. But I did manage to make a few mom friends, and our kids had “play dates” together while we drank coffee. Today, I still don’t have a lot of friends because friendship takes work, and I was very busy taking care of my husband until recently. But I will never forget what a change joining the Mother’s Club brought to my life.

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