is a single mama in the city, super-savvy editor, writer, video host and shameless shoe whore.
Grateful, Part 1
Thursday, November 16, 2006 
Amazement. Two mamas in my playgroup are going to be mothers again. Another friend called me from Oregon on Wednesday to tell me that she is filling out paperwork, attending classes and trying to become a mother herself. She and her husband are going to adopt. When she told me, I burst into tears.
This friend is already a mothering spirit. She cares for her friends' children and she's listened compassionately during many conversations about my own journey into and in mothering. She's held my hand when I've shared secrets with her, she's loved and intervened on behalf of her adult step-daughter for twenty years. She cared for her ailing parents attentively and she's celebrated many births with many women. She takes in animals in and gives them a safe and happy existence on her farm. Underneath her snappy sense of humor and disarming comebacks, she is a soft soul with a generous heart. She puts so much love and energy into the universe, that bringing a child into her home will only confirm for the world what I already know as her friend: She is a wonderful mother.
Last spring, my friend and her husband hoisted Lil E on to a digger between the house and the shed where the other farm equipment lives. The video Bruce took shows a little boy, thrilled beyond words, and a farmer, also a kind spirit, beaming to give this city child a peek into this world.
I've thought of that moment a lot this week, of my friend laughing and taking pictures and her husband moving the gears and holding my son. It was a moment that swelled up inside me then and has this week, making me feel so grateful to have such good friends who love me, love my husband, love my child.
The process to adopt began a long time ago for my friend. When we first met years and years ago, she already had stories of halted possibilities and little heart breaks. This time, this process, takes about nine months, she told me. And that seems just about right.
On the same day I heard about the possibilities and promise one friend has in the adoption process, one of my pregnant playgroup friends asked me, "How do you feel being so surrounded by people having babies?"
I laughed when she asked me and admitted, "My ovaries are flipping."
I am sure that as the months go on, they will be dancing more and more. I am happy right now with the family we have, with what is ahead of us and for where I am with my job, my body, my marriage, my life. For today, I am grateful to know that these women are on this journey and that I know them already as strong, amazing spirits who have much more mothering to do.
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