Just being thankful.

Lately, I've seen quite a few news articles about a group of teens who supposedly made a "pregnancy pact". The girl that seems to be doing all the interviews says there wasn't any pact to all get pregnant at the same time. The only thing resembling a pact was after the fact when the pregnant girls sort of got together and promised themselves and each other that they would make the most of the situation and try to make good decisions in the future.
I can't imagine any group of high school girls getting pregnant on purpose, not in this day and age when birth control is so readily available. But I do know from personal experience that unplanned pregnancies do occur and my hat is off to those girls for taking responsibility for their actions.
Although I wasn't a teen when I had my first child (I was just two weeks shy of turning 22 when Zakk was born) I had the maturity level and the life-experience of a much younger girl.
It could have been a life shattering experience had I not had the support and encouragement of so many wonderful people.
My mom could have turned her back on me so easily. I'd certainly not been the perfect child. It would have been so easy for her to just say "I've got enough to deal with, kid. You're on your own." Lord knows she did have a lot on her plate. But she somehow managed to help me in every way imaginable. All the while not showing the disappointment she must have felt.
Then there were my girlfriends. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to be surrounded by. Laura, Kathy, Ann, Susan, even Millie-- these girls got me through this emotionally draining time. I was such a basketcase, it's a wonder that any of them can still stand me.
I consider all of them my closest friends although I don't keep in touch with all of them like I should.
Looking back at that time in my life makes me realize just how lucky I was to have them in my life. I was the first one in our little circle of friends to have a baby. I was a clueless unwed mother but each of these girls enthusiastically jumped into the roll of "aunt" making this experience one of the happiest times in my life.
They all understood and accepted my crazy hormonal pregnancy mood swings.None of them ever rolled their eyes at me when I had to get up in the middle of movies,meals, and conversations to pee twenty times, and after the baby came, everyone acted like it was the most natural thing in the world that I of all people should have a baby.
It would have been so easy for them to blow me off in favor of friends who aren't restricted by parenthood. Friends who can come and go at all hours without giving it a second thought or take spontaneous trips without having to get a baby sitter.
People say that when a girl has a baby at a young age she gives up some of her youth. I believe this is true to some extent. But my friends sacrificed a part of their youth as well, just to support me. That is what I call going above and beyond friendship.
I always talk about how I love the written word as a form of self expression, but right now I don't have any words that can fully express how I feel. Thinking back on all the support I got during that scary and uncertain time of my life, all I can say is I was blessed and come to think of it I still am.