July 2015
I first heard about the MOMS Club® from a friend who
described play groups, craft days, MNOs, holiday parties, and as if that wasn’t
enough weekly or daily activities with real live adults and kids. I sat in awed
disbelief remembering the rows and rows of empty squares on my calendar that
equated to me entertaining my two year old M all by myself. We had just moved
to Pennsylvania from Utah, and I didn’t know a single soul within a thousand
mile radius, plus R had just started a new job that occupied his every
thought 12 hours a day. Needless to say I was LONELY and BORED.
Several years later I finally came to terms with our
permanence in the East, and I finally joined the MOMS Club®. My first event was
a play group for two year-old C. I pulled up and went into a beautifully decorated
house, with an amazing spread of organic snacks for kids and adults, everyone
seemed put together and knew each other, and I felt about 2 centimeters big.
They were all kind, but I was severely tempted to crawl back into my lonely
bubble and stay in the warm security of not knowing anyone. But I didn’t. I
kept going, and I started to get to know these wonderful women and their
lovable kids. I didn’t let my insecurities about lack of decorating talent, my
love of pesticide covered food, and sometimes disheveled life stop me from
developing friendships.
Let me tell you what I love about the MOMS Club®. I love having something to do with my kids
during the day. I love getting to know people who do everything that I know
nothing about. I love that I can go to M and C’s author’s days, field
days, or other Uwchlan Hills activities and not feel like an outsider. And most important, I love that when we had
the stomach bug my MOMS Club friends brought us dinner, left bubbles in our
mailbox from an activity we missed, and asked how we were. And when my Dad had emergency open heart
surgery two months ago, and I had to drop everything to fly home to Nevada and
comfort my Mother – it was my MOMS Club friends who were so gracious and kind
and picked up my kids from school, drove them to already-paid-for swimming
lessons, and helped in so many ways. That’s what MOMS Club really is.
So please step out of your busy schedule this year and do
something for yourself – make a friend and be a friend in the MOMS Club®.
-Stephanie Pace
President Uwchlan Hills Chapter
