When Sally Cheeseman posted the current contest for the Positive Attitude for the Weary Soul group, an idea instantly popped into my head.  I just had to share this gift and joy with all of you dear readers out there.

Recently I welcomed my first born child to the world.  Definitely the most amazing gift I've ever recieved.  Along with this gift, however, came another gift that I never even knew existed.  It's not a gift you would ask Santa for.  Not a gift that you can get if you don't meet the criteria.  And daddies, sorry, but I don't think you qualify, either.

It IS the gift of acceptance.

All of a sudden, in those blurry moments where the baby cries, you cry, and you are nearly killing yourself trying to see the kid through the weighing and everything else, you become a member of this elite group of women.  This group of women that you knew of, but didn't know shared such a strong bond.  This group who knows every emotion that you are going through.

The group of moms.

It started with strangers coming up to me, commenting on baby, starting conversation, and then us bonding over pacifiers vs. thumbs and the type of formula we use.  Where did you get that cart seat cover?  Oh I love that little hat! 

Then all of a sudden, I became closer to all my friends who had already crossed over into the motherhood group.  At the same time, I became distanced - not because I wanted to be - from some of my friends who had not.

The real shocker to me, however, was when I opened up my facebook a couple weeks ago and had a friend request from someone I knew.  Someone I knew very well.  Someone who didn't seem to like me in high school; someone who I just wanted to accept me.

She became a mom just months after me.  Immediately we were swapping labor stories, discussing diaper habits, and chuckling over sleepless nights.  Strangely, she wasn't the first, but perhaps the most shocking. 

All of a sudden it's "we should get together for lunch" and "we'll have to have play dates in the upcoming years". 

Just a little over a year ago, I felt so out of touch.  Most of my friends were one extreme or the other - responsible parents, who mingled with other mommies, and crazy partiers who I just didn't seem to click with.  (Don't get me wrong.  Some mommies are crazy partiers and vice versa, too.  I make a generalized reference.)  Now I'm comfortable.  I'm settled.  I have a support system, and people to call and laugh with, or cry with - whatever a day full of being a mom calls for.

So this Christmas, I am thankful for my bundle (gift!) of joy, and the bliss of acceptance into the coolest group in the world - the group of moms.