Every once and a while we have to take a survey at work, a kind of measurement on the health of the organization and the people working for it. The questions range from whether you feel you are given the resources you need to do your job, to if you feel your job within the organization is important. One of the questions we all kind of make fun of is, “Do you have a best friend at work?” It seems like a silly question to put on the survey, but in spite of that, I have been blessed to be able to answer “Yes” on that one every time.

Gail is my best friend at work. In fact, outside of family, I’d honestly say she is my best friend.

She and I became friends over our growing baby bumps back in the day. I was pregnant with Big E and she was pregnant with her son. They were born about ten weeks apart. A few years later I had Baby E and a year after that she had her daughter. We’ve been navigating working-mom life together now for years. It has been a blessing to go to work each day and know that there was someone there that was on the same journey I was on, someone that could understand the victories and the failures of juggling a family and working full time. We’ve shared stories, advice, joys, and heartbreaks as we’ve watched our kids growing up.

Leaving Gail is one of the saddest parts of leaving my job.

This evening after work we got to spend some time together. We went and got pedicures. It’s been years since I’ve had one (professionally, that is, C gives me pedis sometimes, so you know…) The chance to just hang out outside of work, with no kids and no responsibilities was simply wonderful. I wish we had thought to do it sooner and more often. 😉

Mom friends are important. They keep us sane. They are our sounding boards. They talk us down from our ledges. They make motherhood less lonely. They are indispensable and I am incredibly grateful that God gave me such an amazing friend in Gail!!