My name is Melina. I live in a very small town in West Tennessee. I hear of places like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, but they may as well be The Lost City of Atlantis to me. My kids wear cloth diapers and people look at me like I am absolutely crazy. To them, breastfeeding is something only to be done until the baby is 6 months old or when they cut their first tooth, whichever comes first. And why wear your baby or co-sleep? Stick them in a crib with a pacifier and "train" them or else you spoil them and they'll become horribly selfish and totally dependant on you for the rest of their life. At least, that's what I'm told. Despite this unsupportive local atmosphere, I continue to try to be the best mom I can be for my 15 month-old twins, Oscar and Matilda. Yes- I still breastfeed, I co-sleep, I do not spank, nor rely on "training" or "scheduling". My son is uncircumcized and we selectively vaccinate. The farther I get into this whole trip called "Motherhood" the more I feel alone in this town. I have no friends, other than usernames on various parenting boards. Does that make me pathetic? Probably. Fortunately, I am determined and optimistic and on the look-out for new, like-minded friends and maybe in the near future I will find some. Until then, I will continue to trudge through my horrible grocery/super store and sniff through dusty cartons of organic fare, wearing my babies in my slings, while one or both of them probably will poke at my chest a few times in earnest. When people see me, at least most just politely, maybe uncomfortably, smile and nod.
(Also, let it be known, I don't judge any other mamas for breastfeeding or not, cloth diapers or not, circumcizing/vaccinating/organic/etc etc etc. My feelings are that we get enough of that judgement from other non-parents, why should we do it to each other? The first thing I learned about being a mother is that every choice you make is 6 of this, half a dozen of the other. Just research and make the best choice you can for your very own little one. That's all we can do.)
