We are who we have been waiting for

I participate in a weekly play group with a few friends whose kids are all about the same age as mine.

You know that moment when a group text shifts from a place of logistics and organization to a place of empowerment? I know you know.

Its a shift from a friendship based on getting through the afternoon of crazy kids with some good people to an enriching relationship. This shift hadn't happened in our weekly playgroup, as we were still in our early stages, so it was a lot of straight forward scheduling and then talking about our kids and the elevator pitch version of the life journey that brought us to our current status. So I was pleased yesterday, when I opened the group text, in anticipation of a thumbs up or thumbs down to my beach plans, to find instead this speech in transcript form. Sharing the experience of raising children and trying to get through day to day life, I took pause. If she sent this to a group of mamas, then she had given it the seal of approval, and I needed to sit my ass down and take a second look. This wasn't spam, this wasn't a call for attention, this was a "hey I think you would learn from this and feel from this" kind of a moment.

Fearful of my attention span when multitasking at my computer in the mornings, I quickly looked on youtube to find the live version of the speech. In addition to my ADD for the sake of efficiency --oh I'm the only person who does that? --I also knew that the delivery of a speech is just as important as the content itself and so I switched it on.

About 3 minutes in, I realized that I had better buckle my seat belt in and put this baby on full screen, because this wasn't about to be the 3-4 minute snip-it I had envisioned it would be and I wasn't about to get anything else done. Nay, endorsed by a hard working mother, I needed to listen and watch this full 25 minute speech with a present and open mind. It was at this same time markers, that I recognized the expanse of her speech to impact so many more than the group of 22 year old college graduates who had lived an academically structured life. They had lived a life up until this point that led them to believe the playing field is even across gender, race and economic standing, and that all this talk of inequality is a discussion of a previous generation, not that of their enlightened graduate selves.

And what comes of this belief? It brings with it a tidal change.

Because we are who we have been waiting for.