First Date Jitters

Sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, inability to sleep....these are all symptoms of a fifteen year old on her first date.  Yet, thanks to the internet genious of meetup.com, I was experiencing these first date jitters in anticipation of my first Mom date. A bookclub, innocuous enough, seemed like a neutral enough venue.  Keep in mind, the only all-female get togethers I've ever experienced involved a basketball, buckets of sweat and plenty of unattractive athletic gear.  As a jock, the world of non-athlete women is as foreign of a world to me as a Yankee Catholic at a Southern Baptist revival.  I have NO idea what non-athletic women talk about all the time. 

So, I went into the unknown carrying my Rachael Ray appetizer and my copy of the Help, the month's designated read.  I was the first to arrive and the only one who found the group on the internet.  Despite talking a little bit too much about the book, I think I did okay.  There were six other women, most stay at home moms, half Southern, all thin (why did I notice that?) and (thankfully) nice. It was fun and my appetizer was the fanciest one there believe it or not...who would've thought?  The book was about the stories of Black maids that worked for white women in Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1950's.  As we were discussing the women of the book, and families we knew who had help, it struck me that this was the first time I'd ever shared such a communal dialogue with a group of women outside of sports and family.  It seems significant.  There was a complete void of competiton and it felt very new to me.  Nice, but new.

Maybe this stay at home mom thing isn't so scary after all.