A MEETING FRIEND

If you haven’t already got one, I suggest you find yourself a Meeting Friend. What I mean by this is we all need someone who is in a similar situation. You know, the other person who, like you, secretly wants to do the merengue at the water cooler at your conservative office, or the one who also thinks about global warming All The Time, or has to bring their own snacks to school because if they eat vending machine snacks they will be sick all over the common room. The other single parent. The one at the boozefest who’s also in AA.

Whatever your difference, it usually feels better when shared.  Who wants to feel “special?” Or be a martyr? Better to not be alone in differences and/or challenges, no?

For me, finding someone who, like me, was dealing with a surfeit of school meetings (both historically and currently) was a game changer. It made me, as the mother of a Full Spectrum of children, feel like I shared a challenging aspect of life with another human being. It gave me a chance to connect over meeting topics and strategies, rather than having to accept empathy/sympathy from someone who had no idea what I was dealing with or, more likely, choosing to simply keep my mouth shut.

Depending on your location this might not be easy – it took me eleven years - but it’s something worth seeking out if you haven’t already found that person or persons.

And so, without further ado, I present to you:

Ode to a Meeting Friend

For D

If you’re rushing and fleeting to get to a meeting

And you see a sad person who’s sad in their greeting

And you ask them what’s up and they say through a tissue

That the teacher or principal called with some issue

Ask, How many weeks in did it happen to you?

Wait…You’re on your way NOW to a dread meeting TOO??

It is then you will know he or she is The One

The person who’s having the same Special Fun

Say: I take it You got “the school call” today too?

I know how you feel and I know what to do!

Between two there are so many ways to face meetings!

Some sob fests …co-ranting…emotional eatings!

Between two the whole scene becomes funnier, normal…

You can bawl, laugh or BOTH now, without being formal.

So let’s sing the praises of the Meeting Friend

Who is there with the gluten-free agave cookies

Who is there cuz of knowing this stuff ain’t for rookies!

Without him or her your heart might not quite mend

I love you, I love you, my dear Meeting Friend.

Love,

Full Spectrum Mama