I've Been Replaced

I know I said I was too tired to blog. But this has been going around and around in my head and I just need to get it out.

Yesterday a play date was organized by one of the school mums for my son's classmates at a park.
I stupidly responded on Facebook that we would attend, before I checked who else was attending.
As soon as I did, I saw that the ex-bff, her new bff and the organizer were the only other three mums going.
Dammit!
But I shrugged it off.
How bad could it be?
I've been 'not talking' to her all year, every day, at school.
I could pretend again that nothing was wrong.
Wrong!
It was two hours of social disaster for me.
Firstly, the mum who organized the event didn't show.
Two and a half other mums did (the half was a mum who dropped her kids off for us to watch while she went on an errand, then she returned, collected her kids, and left).
And one of the other mums was a nutter little odd.
Throw into the mix my 3 year old, who was very clingy and wanted me to stand with her wherever she went in the playground.
So, not only did I feel like a mum on the outer, I looked like one, too.
On the few occasions that I did manage to sit at the table with the other mums, the ex-bff turned her back to me and spoke in hushed tones to her new bff, who oddly looks a little like me.
She even turned up with two cups of take-away Gloria Jeans coffees, like we used to do.
That's when it really hit me that I had been replaced.
It was about this point that I was really grateful for my sunglasses because it was all I could to do hold back a couple of tears.
Then to rub salt into my wounds, the mum who dumped and ran left a thank you on the FB group page thanking *insert names of mum A, mum B, mum C here* et al, for looking after her girls.
I'm 'et al'...an 'other'!
The thing is, my boy had a fabulous time, so did my girl.
As we were leaving she said, "That was fun, Mummy."
So, I'd do it all again, and I will for the next event already set up.
But I might just remember to put on my thicker skin when I'm getting ready for that one.

Don't feel too sorry for me, though.
This morning I had a very good friend over for a cuppa. Her kids, my kids and we had a great morning.
We chatted, we gossiped, we laughed.
She restored my soul.
Thank God for 'M'.