Photo by María Helena Carey
I freely admit, I don’t quite know what to write about this week. It might have something to do with the fact that I’ve been trying to do last-minute things for the return to school, although I realize that many of you out there are already dealing with school. Still, doctors’ appointments and supply lists only get more cumbersome as the years go on, which is why I would like to dip a toe into the vast ocean that is Mothers on The Hill, also known as MoTH.
This will be one of several installments in which I explore MoTH, for it is impossible to be a rookie here on the Hill –mother or not– and avoid hearing about the subject. To the uninitiated, Mothers on The Hill is a group of mothers on Capitol Hill that has been around for over ten years– although they would like to let you know that fathers, grandparents and even caretakers, not just the eponymous mothers, are welcome. The Yahoo! group, which is by invitation only, has been around since the spring of 2001. It was originally just a handful of mothers trying to create a community away from home in this neighborhood of nomads; but nowadays the group is enormous– well over 1000 families.
Just to illustrate my point, the first time I heard about the group I wasn’t even living in DC yet. A family friend whose daughter belongs to the group was the first to mention it. She wanted to make sure I knew about it so I could join as soon as I arrived. Then, every real estate agent I met, seeing that I had a baby, asked me if I already belonged to MoTH or if I was in the process of being invited. One even volunteered to introduce me to someone who knew someone who knew someone who was a MoTH.
As it happened, I became part of the community within two weeks of moving to Capitol Hill thanks to a sweet woman I met in my postnatal yoga class– someone who has since moved away.
And I believe that, despite my marginal role within MoTH, my life as I know it on the Hill is good and getting better thanks to this behemoth of a community which at its best is like a mother-substitute in the neighborhood– providing and swapping clothes and toys and recommendations and hand-me-downs and all manner of essentials and non-essentials and, at its worst, can turn into a mother mafia (maw-fia? muffia? Mothia!) of sorts. But ultimately, it is the youngest citizens of the Hill who benefit the most from an online community where their family members can keep connected and informed, and that is something upon which you can place no value.