Group of Strong Women

I was lonely. During the first year of William’s life, we never left him with anyone. Our families did not live locally and we had no back up. I so envied people who could get away even just for an evening together. Because of that, we brought William with us to family restaurants and movies as an infant and later as a toddler.

All my friends worked and really didn’t have a lot of time to talk about a baby. They had their lives and we all drifted apart.

On the news one night, I saw a spot about Gymboree. I phoned the next day and joined a class over the hill. That first day, I met a group of women who changed my life.

Thea became our group leader; she was from the Holland and a former stewardess for KLM Airlines. She gathered six women together whom she handpicked and arranged for all of us to meet for a playgroup at her house after the series of classes ended. Her husband worked for Bank of America in their department in the Shipping Industry. She later introduced us to the head of the Dutch consulate in SF. His wife was lovely and we even had a formal tea at their home. Thea’s husband was soon transferred to Hong Kong so they were never to be seen again.

The other women in the group were all taking time off from their careers and we were all first time mothers of boys. We met at each other’s homes every week for several years. They were a teacher, stewardess, airline rep, owner of a company, CPA, nurse, and me.

I especially loved Lindsey and her son Robb. (The photo above is of Robb and William.) She was married to a lawyer and returned to working as a nurse after her children were older. As time went on, she along with everyone else in the group had another child.

I tried. We tried. Nothing.

We tried to have another child for five years and it wasn’t until many years later that we discovered that it was my fault that we could not conceive. I had an internal sonogram and the doctor was shocked that I had given birth. Apparently, I should never have been able to conceive let alone give birth to a full-term baby – all 9 pounds 5 ounces of him.

Lucky William.

Lindsey and I became very close and we spent most of William’s early childhood together. We would enjoy whole weeks at their beautiful vacation home up in the Gold Country with horses and a swimming pond. I can never thank her enough for sharing her life and good fortune with us. When William was in second grade, the teacher told me that he did not have the issues of an only child. I give that credit to the many years we spent with Lindsey and her children.

As our boys grew older and started different schools, life happened and we saw less and less of everyone in the group.

Lindsey is now divorced for the third time, is in the advanced stages of MS and is wheelchair bound. I can’t image this active, bright, and beautiful woman who had it all having to adjust to such a solitary, financially devastating and physically challenging life.