Just Chatting

Today at 10 a.m., an historic event:  I spent an hour and a half chatting over coffee with two mom-friends.

I haven't done this sort of thing more than five times since my son was born.  Outside of those five times, I'm always meeting up with adult friends in the context of a play date or something similar.

I can remember two just-the-two-of-us outings with a mom in San Francisco; that mom now lives in Utah.  How she managed to make time for me, twice, with all of her mothering duties (she has six children), I do not know...but she did.  A remarkable woman, someone I miss very much.

I spent several hours with a good friend from graduate school, about eight months ago.  When we said goodbye I was suddenly crying, unable to enjoy the fullness of the moments we'd just spent together, thinking only of the fact that we were about to be separated for who knew how many years.

I spent several hours that same weekend (during a two-day trip that took me away from my son for the first time in his life) with another close female friend from grad school.

I went to a concert with one of my childhood friends.

I went to dinner with some friends from a video program I was in.

And that's more or less all--so seven times, total, since my boy was born, a little more than I thought.  But not all that much; about once a year...not enough.