CIRCLING BACK: Hi, it's me, making mom friends.

How I've made some and want to (maybe) make some more

Here’s something about me and my life lately: I’ve been feeling kind of stuck. My work is in a weird growing pains phase that has the effect of a never-ending waiting room. I’m on the brink of big, fun things, but they’re taking a long time to get here. That, combined with the still-early days of parenting a baby, has been a recipe for weird vibes.

When I’m out in the world with Will, I don’t feel like I quite fit in with any of the caregivers in those spaces. In many ways, I appear as a stay-at-home mom, but the stay-at-home moms I meet can seem put off when I chat about what I do for work. On the other hand, typical working moms can appear doubtful that I am in their club because of the outward appearance of staying home. I don’t begrudge any of these people their impressions of me, and particularly as someone who’s in a weird gray area, I respect and celebrate any choice.

But it’s tricky to make the connections I want to make.

It’s probably not a good thing, but this observation has revived my fascination with the concept of making mom friends, a subject I explored with anticipation before Will was even born.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve made some great new friends in this phase already, and have even had the chance to reconnect with some people from older chapters of my life and to find common ground as we have children around the same age.

But like most things in life, making mom friends has been a lot different than I imagined it might be when I waxed poetic about it in December. So it seems like a good time to circle back, take a look at what 2023 Alli thought about the subject, and readjust accordingly based on lived experience.

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Currently Reading: Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

My only complaint about this book so far is that it doesn’t use quotation marks… but that’s a personal preference more than anything else. I love the way Emma Copley Eisenberg uses language to illustrate the awkwardness of making new friends (apropos of this post!) and the way she writes about characters that feel so real to me in 2024.

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Let’s circle back and check in.

Hi, it's me, making mom friends.