These Are My People

I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was over in London, England completing my student teaching.  My fellow student teacher friends and I were waiting in line to get into a pub one night. We started chatting with the people in front of us, and learned that they were from Norway. And all of a sudden it hit me. The trademark Scandanavian "thin upper lip" was the first dead giveaway. "Oh my goodness," I told them. "We look alike!!!"  Of course, they had no idea what I was talking about. But I could see in these strangers my own reflection. I could see my grandma, my dad, and my uncles. I could see my Norweigan roots like never before and I couldn't believe my eyes and the connetion I felt with these people!

When I found out I was pregnant with twins, of course everyone I talked to had a cousin with twins, a grandma who is a twin or a neighbor who wishes they were a twin. But I didn't KNOW anyone with twins. A former coworker invited me to join a local group of Mamas of Multiples and this group of amazing moms has been one of the biggest blessings in our journey with twins.  This group can roll the acronyms TTC, PUPPs, VBAC, CIO, BH, and RSV off their tongues with the best of them. It is a place to go to for support, to share in accomplishments, and even to see if your child's latest diaper looks, ahem...normal. It is where I first met moms of twins the same age as my boys, who on any given night can light up my cell phone with more text messages than most teenagers I know (and the sole reason my husband made me take my phone off "vibrate" when in silent mode, turns out it's not too "silent" when receiving that many messages at a time!)

It is a support system that I wish upon every new mom. These rockstar mommas have all faced the daunting tasks of everyday life with more than one child of the same age at the same time. We can all answer the unending questions of, "Just HOW do you do it?" and "Two? Are they twins?" We speak a sometimes unspoken language, us moms of multiples. But it is when we all gather on a snowy Minnesota night after our babes have all been tucked in snug as a bug, and we look around the room that we see our reflection in each other and find the comfort and presence of strangers and friends. Of those who have gone through the trenches before us and those who are bringing up the rear. They get it, when no one else does. These are my people.

 

*Special thanks to Kate B. for taking photos and allowing me to use them here.