For the Love of HuMANNity

Through the grapevine, I've heard nightmares from friends in other communities about the veritable "sorority rush" that happens when moms vie for the most coveted volunteer positions at their kid's schools. Market Day Mom? You are an embarrassment. Lunch room duty? Ditto. Room-mothers and the Welcome Picnic Committee? You've reached the pinnacle of the involved mom strata. I was convinced that Oak Park did not participate in such social hierarchies. We raise chickens in our backyard and throw competitions over whose kid's clothes are more recycled. But last week, as I'm racing home with the girls to start our weekend, I remembered that our local school, Horace Mann Elementary, was hosting a bake-sale with all proceeds going directly to the people of Japan. So here I find myself sticking out like a sore thumb in the Marc Jacobs spring collection just blocks from my house. These moms, the ones that head up the school's service committee, "MANN-kind", would make Gisele Bundchen look like a total slob. I tugged at my Old Navy trousers and in the blink of an eye whisked back to Glen Crest Junior High wondering what lunch table I'd be able to sit at. I grabbed a bag of baked goods so that I could stop myself before I relived another moment from 1988...so what if I got depantsed at that popular girl's party and ended up spending the evening sewing up my leggings because they were torn up the middle? Fast forward to present. I walk back to my car, festooned with bumper blemishes from years of city parking. I saw the stacks of client files in the front seat of my four-wheel file cabinet...stacks that give the impression that the owner of the car is homeless...but nonetheless represent a lot of hard work, faith and fights for social justice. And for that moment I realized they could keep their Range Rovers and their OPI manicures. For that moment I was really proud of the type of woman Ella and Viv call Mom. She may not be in the most fashionable clothes, she may leave the house with wet hair...like every day. But I'm a GDI. Sorority rush was never my thing. Besides, I have two years until kindergarten. Plenty of time to work on my wardrobe.