A member to member letter written by Christy Mansfield in the Mothers’ Center of Southwest Nassau newsletter
When I kept running into a particular Mothers’ Center member almost every day this summer as we shuffled our different kids between the MC Summer Camp and the Lynbrook School District Summer Playground, I at last found her standing with the tailgate of her car open and her 4 year-old girl sitting on a portable potty.
I LOVED this scene. Why? One: because I have a 3 year-old girl, and I know this will be me one day soon. Two: because one of my ‘veteran’ MC friends once shared that she, a mother of three girls, NEVER LEFT HOME WITHOUT a portable potty in the back of her truck. Sure as the sun rose, as soon as she got into a store or a supermarket, one of her girls would say she had to go to the bathroom. So, she would calmly leave her cart, go back to the car, have her daughter pee in the portable potty, go back to the store, and go on with her life.
“I NEVER would have thought to do that. THAT’S the MOTHERS’ CENTER!” is what I said to my new friend as she waited patiently at the rear of her car for her daughter to go. There is nothing like this. Our members sit around in groups and share. We get together in the summer and share. We bump into each other in town, and we share. I NEVER would have thought that I would be able to do that.
And I never take for granted the value of the benefits I gain from those experiences. Because they always make me feel better, more relaxed, and more “normal.” Aside from those extremely important emotional benefits, I gain some unbelievable practical knowledge and insights from my more experienced mother friends.
Never underestimate the power of a conversation with another mother. I tap into those ideas, maybe months or years later, and I never forget where they originated. That’s why we were drawn to this place. That’s the Mothers’ Center.
