Here is a shout out to my mom peeps at milwaukeemoms.com who sponsored a lovely night of appetizers, comaraderie and a Real Play at the Rep this week. ! It was so obvious moms are so not used to being honored that I realized we were all kind of blinking, looking around, our minds racing for something to catch or hold us there. We weren't being needed for anything, we weren't on call. Highly disorienting, I felt like this was the one time in my life that moms were not assembled in order to not only watch our kids and run a fundraiser but check in with each other on registrations, library story hour tips and kid days at the bookstore. Nope, it was just for chatting, having a nice time, and watching a play. I am grateful for the disorientation! I hadn't realized how function-first I'd become, that somehow being with moms is channeled in my brain that it's a work session. I don't think I've parked the car in a "fancy" lot alone since I've had kids. It's like the husband is the ticket to dropping my shoulders and saying "Ok, now we're having a time together, and I'm Off Duty."
Despite the similarity to German cleaning ladies being recognized at a party (myself mostly resembling that remark), the thrill of going on a kind of guided field trip without any parts of our families attached to us was unique. I could tell different synapses were firing in my brain that would have been otherwise. Examining the staircases in the Milwaukee Center, heck just figuring out which is the Pabst and which the Rep from inside was helpful for future trips. It's like we were a company of bus drivers brought in to learn the route. I appreciate the Rep reaching out to moms - they even have a babysitting rebate program that covers part (about an hour) of your sitter at home while you come to a play! I encourage you to check it out - the whole experience is really nice, and not snooty, or old. And when there aren't moms in a whole section, it's probably quiet too! :)
The play we saw was Armadale, which was heavier on plot than acting, it seemed, to a humorous level. Seeing this production with my mom-glassess as such defined my guest-ness to the rep and was seated with all moms also feeling same (I mean, we're all different, have different careers, interests, etc. but for this night were unified for our responsilibities and forte's as moms), the play's treatment of motherhood and children was ironically chaff and irreverent. At one point (and if I'm giving anything away here, Spoiler Alert!) the two mothers of the sons of the same name were looking at their pretend infants adoringly, and the next moment the narrator moved them ahead 20 years and the mom actresses blew open the pretend babies into shawls and put them on. Voom, just like that. GASP time in Section Mom!
It was a lovely time, and clearly this is a group that appreciates being treated to some of the nice things that seem so de rigouer to people without kids. Thank you!
