Moms, do you take time for yourself away from your kids? I know we all talk about it. We occasionally sneak out after dinner and get a pedicure…maybe. We rarely get to the mall alone. We can only remember once, if we’re really lucky, a time that we got away for the weekend without a husband or a child. I know it’s hard. It’s near impossible. After living like that the first year of motherhood, some friends and I decided we’d had enough. We were losing each other. We couldn’t keep up with each other. We were not seeing each other regularly and because of that we were losing our connection, our community.
It had to stop.
And, by the grace of God, it did.
We decided that we were going to meet every Monday night after supper, and bedtimes, and after the catching up with our husbands was over. We committed to staying up a little later for the sake of needing some socialization.
As you can imagine…it was awesome:) It’s been three years and we still meet every Monday. We crave it. Some weeks it’s harder to do. Some nights my husband is exhausted and I can’t just run out with a quick “high-five, tag-your-it” and not come back until 11:30 pm. Some nights one of us can’t make it, or someone must come late. But we are committed. Each week we meet at a different girl’s house, depending on who is available. We keep it totally low-key.
The sweetest talks about our marriages, households, families, siblings, children…they’ve all been a result of Monday nights. Girls’ Night. Sometimes we laugh the whole time, sometimes we cry. Sometimes we simply complain. But it’s precious. It’s priceless. For the longest time I was the only one with children. Now I’ve walked through several engagements, marriages, pregnancies, and phases of motherhood with these ladies.
My challenge for you is to find community. If your church or city doesn’t make it easy to find, create it. Talk to another friend about needing to get away from your kids and husband for an hour or two. Commit to one another. Don’t set rules at first. Just be there with each other, gabbing about life and love and everything in between. It will truly bless your soul if you do. You’ll feel a part of a world that’s not so big and you’ll be connected deeply to women that care about you.
Hannah
P.S. Tonight, we’re watching The Bachelorette together! I’d love to hear what you’re doing to maintain community with the girls in your life.
passing this along to c..
Thanks for passing along. Hope she enjoys it!
Well said Hannah. I so need that in my life and have it in little ways but not with the same sort of commitment you girls have. Will definitely work on that. Thanks for the encouragement.
Thanks Juli! Let me know how it goes:) I’d love to hear what this starts to look like for you!
This is exactly what my girlfriends and I have been doing for almost 6 years now! And just like you said…we crave it every week! I’m not sure what I would do without our Monday nights. I also would encourage any woman to try and fit something like this into their life. It really is lifechanging.