Today’s Mom Tears™ are brought to you by “Coffee with new people” and “A table surrounded with women is a table made of mirrors”

I had the awesome opportunity to meet with a diverse group of women a few towns over for a Saturday morning coffee, yogurt bar networking soiree (Soiree sounds so nice rolling off the tongue)
I am always amazed when people gather. The basic desire of wanting to be together, the need to connect.  Each are simple enough inclinations, it is the force that they are brought forward with which always leaves me overwhelmed. In this texting, snapchatting (I still don’t get the snapchat thing) instagraming world we still find joy in sipping coffee and having a chat.

Each of us gathered around the tables that were pushed together came from different backgrounds, searching for paths unique to ourselves. It suddenly hit me like tonne of bricks!!! A table surrounded with women is a table made of mirrors. Think about that for a second. Or two……
We have a tendency as women to walk into a room, ANY room and begin comparing ourselves to each other. Don’t lie you know you have done it as well (insert winking face emoji that guy is saucy!) We use some sort of wacked out chart to see where we fit in the group and from that instant start riding the scale of self doubt. Here’s the thing though; When women gather great things happen!! We are truly mirror images of each other seeing the best pieces of self reflected back on to us through the smiles of others. Sometimes the mirror holds fear and worry that’s ok because then we find empathy and truth.

Each of us has a story worth telling so incredibly beautiful.

When I was younger is was easy to distract my thoughts. There were a million ways to keep from facing what I felt or really thought. Time the great healer is also a teacher. I’m not sure at what point what exact moment ‘things’ stopped being enough. I began to step back and watch.  It truly was a miracle. I watched friends have children, I watched people fight for their lives. I watched as fights were won and lost. I have watched great joys and watched crippling sadness. I have seen love. Somehow through life’s biggest moments the small stuff goes on too. It is these moments that keep me watching, let me feel solace in undistributed emotion or thought. We are meant to feel raw emotion the gift is finding out what to do with it and still have the small stuff move us great distances.

Sipping coffee in the company of strangers sharing basic human need and thought.  Seeing pieces of myself in the faces of such brave, smart, dedicated, driven women I was able for a short time to set aside the sliding scale of self judgement and just be.

❤ Leigh
©2019