Before I had kids, I had friends. Good ones. The kind you could call at midnight, the kind who remembered your anniversary without being reminded, the kind who showed up.
And then I had kids, and the geography of friendship changed completely.
Some of those friendships held. Some quietly faded — not with drama, just with distance and differing seasons. And some of the most important friendships of my life are ones that started in a pediatrician’s waiting room or a mom group text that somehow became a lifeline.
Mom friendships are their own category. They’re built fast, out of necessity and shared chaos, and they go deep in a way that friendships formed in calmer circumstances sometimes don’t. There’s something about having someone see you at your most exhausted, your most undone, and still showing up for dinner (even if dinner is McDonalds at the park) that bonds people.
“Some of the most important friendships of my life started in a pediatrician’s waiting room.”
But mom friendships are also complicated. The comparison trap is real. The different parenting philosophies can create friction. The scheduling logistics of getting two families with kids to align is practically a project management certification.
Here’s what I try to hold onto: the friends who make me feel less alone in motherhood — who make me laugh about the chaos instead of cry about it — are worth every complicated scheduling text. They’re worth showing up for, even when I’m tired.
Find your people. Protect those friendships. You need them, and so do they.
— Christa, Founder of Mommish
