*Photo by Christine Halberg*

Saturday, I dropped the kiddo off for a sleep-over at a fellow-mama’s house.
Before I was even out of bed the next day, (happily reading and wide awake though), I had a call from a different mama asking if I could take her kiddos for part of the day so she could unpack from a recent move.
And, before I even GOT to the first mama’s house, I had another call from an entirely different mama, asking for help getting her kiddo to camp tomorrow morning.
Later, I asked a 4th and 5th mama for help getting Abby to and from camp on Thursday.

I.love.this.

As a mother of an only child, I love that I have friends that will quite willingly, and often BEGGING-ly take my kiddo so I can get some stuff done, or have a night on my own with Tom.

I am part of a village. . . raising up these kids and it is the best thing ever.

So, when the one mom called and was a little hesitant to lean into the crew of us that routinely take extra kiddos (with the full understanding that we’re repaying what someone else in the “pool” has paid forward a different time), I laughed. “Oh, PLEASE let me have him!!!”

And, it’s a joy. It is. These families are so fantastic. The kids, even at their worst, are so fantastic.

And, my kid? She gets so much from all of this swapping and trading. Exposure to other households, time to pig pile with other kids. Time to play with other family’s dogs and cats.

And me? Yeah. Community. It’s what we’re building. And it’s stinking beautiful.