Hold onto your mom tribe – and a good bottle of champagne – Because one day you’ll need them both
It was early April and schools had only just let out for COVID19. Suddenly and swiftly, we were forced into routines that were abnormal even to the busiest of souls. My heart was racing after a particularly trying day of chasing the kids around; settling their arguments; trying to get work done, keeping the house clean, making meals, etc. You know the game. It’s the mom game.
The clock hit 4pm and I popped the cork from a chilled bottle of Moët and grabbed a glass. I sought refuge in the one place I knew no one would dare come after me. I went into “no man’s land” and slipped behind my bedroom door and into my closet. By myself. Where I sat for the next 45 minutes on the floor with nothing but my champagne, stilettos, tears, and panic-stricken mind to comfort me. Just a moment is all I wanted to work through my nerves in a quiet corner of the house where I could figure out what in the Halston was happening!
Thoughts of terror worked their way through my mind as I sat there, contemplating life and what the future would hold. Swells of emotion roared through my brain, threatening to make the tears flow like rivers down my face and into my glass. Do you remember when Alice In Wonderland cried a sea of tears? My closet was the vessel and I was Alice. Trapped in my own thoughts, but trying to keep it together, I choked back my anguish as I told myself over and over that this, too, shall pass.
This new way of life was anything but something I could have ever imagined happening in my lifetime. The sudden adjustment to life at home 100% of the time, along with the uncertainty of a strange virus, were enough to crack the strongest woman’s nerves. I felt like I was on the verge of a literal heart attack while falling down an endless rabbit hole. Perhaps you felt similarly? Needless to say, this situation wasn’t comforting at all.
But what was comforting were the conversations I soon had with my girlfriends – women who also found themselves in the throes of doing too much on too little time, and in too close of quarters with everyone we loved the most.
Then, we realized, we were alone – but we were alone in this together.
Libby Romano, Co-Founder & Publisher, LUXYMOM®
Let’s be honest, everyone needs a little me time, but that was now a fantasy. One phone call started a chain of calls as we all started to pour our feelings out and vent to each other about how we would keep this up. Then, we realized, we were alone – but we were alone in this together. It was okay to feel overwhelmed, because we had each other to build one another back up. Even if it did call for a disappearing act within our own homes for a moment or two.
That one hour of time spent in my closet, pouring my soul out to my clothes and a bottle of champagne – is the very reason for this column. Discovering that my girlfriends were just as stressed as I helped me cope and manage with a little more sanity and hope. I never would have had the revelation without my initial closet confessional, and this all helped me get through the beginning stages of the COVID19 epidemic.
So hold onto your mom friends and always keep your favorite beverage around for those moments when you need them most. Join us monthly as we explore another mom’s Closet Confession, and share in our real, raw, humorous, and uplifting stories.