When everything goes wrong but it ends up totally right.

So I have actually been accomplishing my goals of meeting people lately. I have worked myself out of my perpetually comfortable hermit niche and joined the land of the living. And I am surprised to find that I really like it.  I mentioned in a previous post that I have made a great friend Heather and become friends with two of my neighbor, both of whom have children my daughter is crazy about.

My next objective was to find a babysitter. I thought I could interview some people on Craigslist and maybe I would find someone that I just clicked with. So on Monday night, while Heather was over, we met a woman who sounded wonderful in her ad. She had tons of experience, five references, CPR cards, etc.

Well, she showed up and I knew right off the bat that this wasn't going to work out. She was a disaster, and couldn't keep straight who she had every babysat. The clincher came when I asked for her references and she could only supply one, but asked if her best friend from high school would count.

Two words: epic fail.

At this point, I was totally distressed. I know that I absolutely need to have someone that I can call if there is an emergency or situation here. I have my in laws, but they are too far away to really be able to help out in a pinch or on short notice. Also, with Chris being gone for a year, it's just necessary that I have some time to run errands or go to Dr's appointments without kids.

The next day I took a walk to my wonderful neighbor's house, an author namedTheresa. (you will probably see some book plugs on here for her work soon). I was going through the story of my internet nanny plight, and low and behold - she just happened to have a best friend that was looking to baby sit some kids occasionally during the day while she was home with her four year old!

I called her and went to her house the next monring to meet a wonderful, clearly caring mother who has two great dogs, a cat and a house that you can tell is filled with the kind of chaos and love that makes for the best kind of family!

We made arrangements for her to watch the girls for a few hours this morning, so that I could shampoo my carpets. Ok, I admit that this is totally lame but I have the kind of baby that allows me to accomplish absolutely NOTHING during the day.

Sadly, she called this morning to say that her oldest son had gotten sick but she would still be happy to watch them if I wanted. I declined (don't need sick kids on top of everything else!).

But here is where I made so much progress...ordinarily, this would have thrown me for a loop. I am generally horrible with plans changing at the last minute and allow myself to get all "a flutter" and stressed out. But I decided instead that it would be a great morning to try out the local MOPS (mother of preschoolers) group that I had been intending to go to. The deal is that the kids get split into groups and watched while the moms chat, do crafts, have speakers, eat, etc.

So I set out for the church near my house where I knew they had a meeting. Turns out I had gotten the day wrong. Here again, I orindarily would have turned around and headed home but instead I headed to another church where I knew they had the meeting.

I was pretty nervous, it can be very intimidating to walk into a group event where everyone know everyone else and you know nobody, but the only way I am going to survive the next year is to meet people, gosh dang it so I did it.

And oh my gosh, am I so glad I did. Everything just clicked! It was incredible. There were so many wonderful moms. I got to have conversations with about 10 people individually. You are put into a table group and I got pink (first sign I was meant to be there). The food was amazing, they do this incredibly ridiculous spread with coffee and homemade treats.

They start out with a raffle which I totally WON (second sign I was meant to be there!).

And then the speaker came on - she was talking about how to stop being so frustrated and angry with your children. This is something that I have put my primary focus on in the last several months. I hate being the mom who yells all the time. It was so nice to see the other forty moms nodding in the places I was, relating to this women, hearing other people's struggles with the same things. I swear I got all teary eyed when she started talking because I just could not believe the series of events that had brought me to exactly where I needed to be this morning.

I can't wait for the next meeting, and that is saying a lot for me! The girls had a blast in their groups and I am riding high on the positive energy of the day!