I Now Understand

I used to be in an all women’s investment club. We called ourselves S.T.A.F.F. (Sisters Together Achieving Financial Freedom). Our group met monthly for over 10 years and we saw various members get married, move away and start a family.  I left the group at the beginning of the year in 2011.  And one thing I was known for with the group was always being on time.  If the meeting started at 7:00pm, you can believe I was there by 7:00pm.  Often times I would be the only person there for 10-15 minutes.  The running joke was that if I left my house at the start time for the meeting, I’d get there around the same time as everyone else.

It wasn’t until yesterday that I understood what was going on.  Yesterday Maximus, at the ripe age of five weeks old, was asked to film a newborn video that would be shown in hospitals to new mothers.  He was going to be paid a savings bond and filming started at noon.

To me that seemed like plenty of time to get things done, but little did I know that being on baby/youth time is different than single/independent woman time.  It first started with a baby that did not want to be put down.  Morning time is usually snuggle time and this day was no different.  Usually that’s fine, but not when you’re praying that at least one dress fits over my now wider hips and it’s more difficult to do when lil man is in your arms.  Then comes getting Maximus dressed. Usually that’s pretty simple, but now I must time it so that he doesn’t puke or poo on his clothes since he’ll be filmed.

Which leads to breast feeding. I tried to time it just right so that eating would be the last thing we did before leaving the house.  All seemed to go well and I thought I would still be on time – until I realized I couldn’t find the black dress I had picked out to wear.  It’s a simple black dress, it couldn’t be in too many places.  I looked high and low and couldn’t find it.  Maximus wasn’t much help.  I found a less pleasant dress to throw on. As I was getting ready to walk downstairs, I remembered I’d put the dress in the dryer to get out the wrinkles – and there it was.

We were finally on our way.  While I would love to say I was 10-15 minutes late, we were actually still on time.  BUT, I can now completely relate to my friends being late places and having a million things to do before one simple task can be complete.

It feels great to now be a part of this not so secret parent society where most people speak the same language. I’m not the president or the founder.  I’m just a rookie member starting to learn the ropes. Go team!