A Village

In today's world, it is a special thing to be surrounded by a community of woman. I often hear stories of "the good old days" when generations of women raised their children together. If you weren't living with your mother or grandmother than she was down street. And if that weren't the case, you had a neighborhood full of woman to rely on to help you or just to provide company. There were often extra hands on deck. Now a days, it's common to be far from family and many of us are so busy that our neighborhoods are often empty.

Today, I felt a bit like I lived in the good old days- thanks to my babysitting co-op. Our day began when one of our co-op members arrived at our doorstep at 8am. This woman also happens to be Katherine's speech therapist and we had a session scheduled. With the girls out of school and nothing but rain in our past or our future, I had been wondering if I was going to be able to go running all week. Suddenly, I realized that we could kill two birds with one stone. While Katherine and Caroline worked with our speech therapist, she earned co-op points while I ran.

Shortly after our session was over, I brought the girls to another co-op house so that I could attend the final meeting of my wonderful writing group. On the way out the door, I mentioned that I would be going to the grocery store on the way back and the co-op mom asked if I could pick something up for her.

When I went to pick the girls up, I had another idea. We had a special play date scheduled for Caroline this afternoon that would have been a bit boring for Katherine. The co-op mom who was watching the girls had mentioned that their day was pretty empty and it was actually helping her to have the girls in the morning. That gave me the idea to bring Katherine back in the afternoon and have time with Caroline and her friend without a toddler who might slow down the big girls.

When we came to pick Katherine up, we all decided to go out together for cupcakes. A satisfying and yummy treat.

As the day has come to a close, I can't stop appreciating how helpful and relaxing it is to live, even for a day, in a close knit community. So many people won today. I ran. Our speech therapist, who needed co-op points, got points. I spent the morning with my writing group. The girls spent the morning playing with friends and a mom had new faces to help her entertain her twins. I saved a mom a trip to a grocery store- a trip I know she dreads with two three olds by her side. I spent an afternoon with Caroline while Katherine played happily outside with friends. And we all ended the day with cupcakes.

It takes a village and today I had one.