When my children were still in strollers, I had a group of mommies’ I used to walk with. As the years have passed several have moved, some of us work, and life just seems different now that we are in the elementry years. When my oldest was just a baby I would walk with my friend Shelly. She has a daughter a week older than my Arden. We would walk in afternoon and then sometimes have wine at her house, or meet for play dates (how much do one year-olds play?), or coffee and pie after the kids were in bed. Then there were potlucks and 4th of July’s and Birthday Parties. It was such a sweet, simple and innocent time, before I learned to worry, before I was the mother of two.

After Shelly moved, I had Pierson and Angie had her boys, we would walk together. And then we were joined by Shannon and Christie and Liz. Again there were dinners and casual gatherings, and a whole house of sippy cups, diaper bags, and little snacks. And we would marvel to ourselves at the women amongst us, with the younger children, and think how next year their worlds would be so different. How before long they would actually get to talk and visit and not be so vigilant.

Now that my kids are bigger and busier and really stinking heavy to push, this kind of walking girl time dosen’t really work anymore. But there is a whole new crop of babies in the neighborhood, and a whole new set of cute mommy’s experiencing motherhood for the first time. Every time I see them walking down the street two by two, pushing their little charges, it makes me smile and remember when.

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