This post is dedicated to all my September 2008 WTE moms...You know who you are!!
Back on New
Year’s Eve day of 2007, I found out I was pregnant with my son, who would then be
born in September 2008. As I had just recently lost a pregnancy due to
it being ectopic, my guard was understandably up; and I was being a tad bit
cautious about announcing this new pregnancy to anyone. Throughout
those first few months, I had found a board on the website What To Expect
When You’re Expecting (WTE) for moms
who were due to give birth in September 2008, as I was. After I had successfully made it through the
first trimester, I started participating in the discussions that were going on
with these other women. I started slowly
at first as I was still a bit trepidatious, and I knew that I was one of the
older moms on there as I had turned 38 during that first trimester. The majority of the moms were in their early
20s. However, just as when you meet
people in real life (as opposed to via the internet), you instantly click with
some. As those online friendships grew for
me and I got to feel more comfortable on the WTE September 2008 board, even more
friendships took shape. So, during that
time while we were all pregnant we shared our ups and downs of our varying pregnancy
symptoms/issues, our lives, shared our laughter, pain, and tears; and then slowly one
by one we started having our babies.
Some were early, some were late, and others were right on time. But one by one they came into this world and
we celebrated and cheered our way through them all.
Even after
having our babies, we kept the board going on WTE, but slowly we weren’t
participating as actively as we once were. We all had
our newborns to take care of…feedings, poopy blowout diapers, sleep deprivation,
babies getting their first fevers or sicknesses. One thing we noticed, though, was that many
of us were already on or had just recently joined Facebook. We collectively started exchanging our email
addresses/names, as up until that point we’d only been known by our online WTE board
names, I was MommaSki845, and the Friend Requests slowly started happening on
Facebook. Over time we set up a few
different, separate WTE September 2008 groups, all of which we made sure were Private, on Facebook. Moms came and
went over time, especially in those first few years, and we consolidated those initial boards down to one, and even
now there is still an amazing group of 77 of us mommas who keep in touch with
each other. We still laugh and cry together online, we vent,
we celebrate, basically we act just as any other group of close girlfriends
would. There have been spats, heated arguments,
and hurt feelings along the way (of which even I was involved in), just as would
happen with your girlfriends who you regularly see and hang out with. One thing that we’ve been great about,
though, is agreeing to disagree and respecting others views and decisions even
if we didn’t personally agree with them. We all know how catty and competitive
women can get with each other, but somehow we’ve managed to rise above all
that, which has helped our bond grow even stronger over these past six years.
Yep, it’s
been just about six whole years since this group of beautiful, amazing, and supportive
women became friends. A handful of the
moms have actually met each other in person, but the majority of us haven’t, as
much as we’d LOVE to. We span the entire
United States, Canada, and other countries along the way for those moms
who are military spouses or involved in the military overseas some way or
another. Despite those miles between us, we are there
for each other emotionally and in spirit.
It’s a truly indescribable feeling to have knowing that there are individuals out there who truly care about you in good times and bad.
That’s what brings me to what in particular inspired this post.
One of our
mommas is in the beginning stages of a divorce.
As someone whose marriage ended a few years ago right around this same time
of year, I can relate in many ways to what she’s going through. Just as we’ve all bared our souls to our
fellow September 2008 WTE moms along the way over the years, she was really
depressed, as frequently happens with many people during the holiday/Christmas
season. She wasn’t prepared for the
divorce to be happening, her soon-to-be ex is being a douche, and she was
feeling dejected and incredibly sad that she wouldn’t be able to give her two
boys a “real” Christmas/gifts from Santa, despite her now having gone back to
work with super long hours just so she can start over and be able to provide a
new life for her boys. She is such a
sweet woman and has been so supportive to many of us over the years. She just wanted to vent and she knows she can
say whatever she wants to safely and without being judged or criticized. She wasn’t looking for anything other than
the emotional support that we’re known for showing each other. So, having this incredibly unique and strong bond
that I spoke of earlier among all of us ladies, one of the moms set up a
separate group on Facebook, which at least a quarter of us have joined in on
now, and we plan on sending her and her boys some presents and good cheer for
Christmas. This isn’t the first time we’ve
come together to help out one of our moms and children who’ve been down on
their luck during the holidays, either. It’s
what we love to do in whatever ways we can, and it all stems from us meeting
six years ago on that one What To Expect September 2008 pregnancy board.
This is a
bond that is hard to explain to others in the “outside world,” as it truly is
unique in its nature. It’s a bond I feel
incredibly blessed to have in my own life.
We may never have the opportunity to all meet up in person, but I know
that no matter what, they have my back.
Maybe not physically/in person, but I know they are there for me
emotionally and spiritually whenever I need them. Heck, I’ve had to call on them for many a
prayer, positive vibes, and good juju when my mom was in the hospital a few times and was going through some
different, potentially life-threatening issues.
So, no, they may not be here to give me a physical hug, but they are
there online when I need them and always in my heart. I found this saying recently that I thought was
very fitting for all of us:
Closeness
isn’t always measured in distance,
Friends can
live many miles away,
But the bond
of love formed long ago
Always keeps
them close at heart.
I love you,
my WTE September 2008 mommas, and thank you for always being there for me and
my son. :-)
Wishing you all peace, love, and happiness,
Kristyn
