I sing the playgroup electric.

I know it's sooo not cool (in the blogosphere but also in mommy culture worldwide) but I really, really love my playgroup. And, by extension, my parenting education class.

I know, SO LAME.

But on this Thanksgiving eve, I am reminded (by the fact that I'm currently cleaning out my iphoto library with its 1200 photos in it) of how intensely hard the first 6 weeks 6 months year of Z's life was. Normal, first-year hard but still, the kind of hard you can't pull through alone.

I have a wonderful family but most of them are far away. I have wonderful friends but I've only lived in So Cal for 2 years so the people who really know me - who've sat through repeated viewings of Fast Forward, the BEST MOVIE EVER MADE - live in San Francisco and Northampton and New York and other hippy enclaves.

So when when I stalked a friendly mom and joined a playgroup, I also found my mommy version of salvation.

It is the ladies who are learning alongside me that I turn to time and again for support, ideas, encouragement, reminders that putting Z on eBay really isn't an option.

So, after all my thanks are given tomorrow, I will silently raise my glass to the moms of my playgroup.

And to the moms in the blogosphere who also aid my sanity-retention project.