Three years ago I received this email from my good friend and CT Working Moms founder, Michelle, inviting me to be a part of a new website she was starting just for working moms:

…I’m reaching out to you because …I really feel like this new website will go a long way in connecting working moms in our state because I honestly think that #1 there is a lack of community for working moms and #2 when you become a working mom it’s hard to know how to do certain things (finding child-care etc.). I’m hoping the new site helps with both those things!

That’s Michelle. Always coming up with brilliant ideas and ways to help others, particularly women, feel more connected and empowered. But I almost turned down the opportunity. I was a first-time mom to a one-year-old still trying to figure this whole motherhood-work-life-balance thing out. Who was I to help other moms when I was surviving by the seat of my pants? Then one morning out of nowhere I felt the need to write about what I was experiencing as a working mom. The second I hit the “publish” button, I felt a huge weight off my chest. There was relief in throwing my story out there for the world to read. Maybe people could relate? Or, at the very least, they could get a good laugh at my expense? So, I continued to write and tell our story. I still get that surge of relief, excitement, and anxiety when I hit the publish button. It is not always easy to expose your life and vulnerabilities to friends and strangers. But it is a great rush nonetheless.

Looking back at my posts I realize I have this fantastic journal of motherhood as I am experiencing it from the front lines. I have these living, breathing posts documenting what I call a “mothermorphosis,” how being a mom has irrevocably changed me for the better. This site is also a place where I am able to look back at my daughter’s growth from a young toddler to preschooler to big sister. I feel really grateful that I have this since I have yet to put a photo album together for her and she’s four!

The greatest thing about this community is the mission to be a judgment-free zone, a place where we can laugh at our lives and help each other out. We are all in this together, so why waste time and energy trying to tear each other down, when we could lift each other up through, support, positivity, and commiseration?  It is a place where I have sought and received helpful advice from our awesome readers (Thanks for helping us survive Disney World, people!).

Having a place to connect with other moms and write out my experiences has made me a way more confident second-time mom – a far cry from the nervous first-time mom who was doing her best to figure things out on her own. In three years I, along with my family of bloggers, have been on the “Today Show” (um, what?!); “Good Morning America” (are you kidding me?); the cover of the Hartford Courant and other national news outlets bearing my post-partum belly (now I know what the words BRAVE and BEAUTIFUL truly mean…); and I got to tell a little story about my mom on the Huffington Post.  I am so glad I took Michelle up on that offer three summers ago because it has been an incredible ride. I cannot wait to see where the road takes us next.