Yes I know...I've neglected the blog for well over a month. My bad! I try to stay connected with my peeps via Facebook though, so check me out there if you haven't already.

Lots going on with work (all good things), lots going on with PP and volunteering (we're gearing up for election season here and trying our DAMNDEST to get candidates who support choice for women, comprehensive sex education, and a few other key initiatives into office), and lots of weekend socializing that often leaves me pretty drained.

Also, I bought myself an elliptical machine last month (thanks to an unexpected bonus at work) and I have been so busy making sweet cardio love to it every night that I haven't set aside time to really sit down and churn out a blog post.

Again, my bad but I have to look hot in my skinny jeans like right this second. I'm turning 30 soon remember? This is not a game!

So, anyway...I've become close with a group of amazing women in the last few months and while a good portion of them are childless, a few are not. One that I've become particularly tight with is 40 with a 20 year old daughter, and several of the other women are also late 30's to early 40's with children in their late teens or early twenties.

What I'm noticing (and appreciating) about these women is, unlike women my age who are just beginning to start their families and are ultra focused on babies and kid shit, these women are NOT wrapped up in their roles as mothers NOR do they feverishly advocate the childless among us to get on with procreating.

I'm beginning to think older women with older children are an underused resource and ally for those of us who are childfree. From my vantage point, they seem to make pretty fabulous friends.

Not enamored with their role as "mommy dearest". Not constantly bragging about their spawn or telling boring ass stories about them all the goddamn time. Not struggling to get a babysitter every time something social comes up. Not feeling as if "I just gave birth therefore I have hung the moon".

Not nearly as boring and one dimensional as a great deal of the new moms we come across in daily life.

More importantly, they're not "in transition to uber mommy" mode. They've been there and done it already. They know who they are. They're not going to flip and change on you overnight outta the blue. Nope. I see them as stable, grounded, relaxed, and much more free. It's like they've reached the stage where they feel like a woman first and a mother second now that the constant care taking is over.

Also, at this stage of motherhood, they've been through a lot (at least the ones I know). So much so that they can't seem to bring themselves to encourage me to have kids.

Which is friggen sweeeeet.

They can actually look me in the eye and say "Girlfriend, I DO NOT blame you for staying childfree. Keep your life the way it is. Fabulous."

It's so refreshing.

Being around mothers without having to endure the relentlessly disingenuous endorsements of mommyhood???

Sign me the eff up!

If you're a CF woman in my age range who is frustrated at who the women your age have become after becoming mothers, fret no more. Kiss your "new mommy" frenemies goodbye. These are the kind of women to be friends with.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to seek them out!