Girlfriend, I got your back! (I couldn't help myself)

Earlier this week (or late last week?), I wrote about hurting my back and then I disappeared!. Last weekend I was still out there taking Diego to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, going on long walks to see Merlion the lion and snapping pictures. I had excruciating pain that made me stop on my tracks whenever I moved my left leg forward and pain on my hips that had me convinced I would need a hip replacement before 35!! People, I'm not 15 anymore. Wowsers. Did I hurt my back!! I had a mommy-friend reveal to me that she was a physio-therapist in her past life (before having her 2 kids) and ordered me on bed rest for at least 3 days. After laying around for 2 days and watching Diego go from room to room ready to draw on walls and taking every toy out of the toy box just to watch me bend over and pick it all up, I realized two things: 1) I really needed the rest and 2) people I have known in Singapore for only 3-4 months can truly be called friends.

Kylie, my new physio-therapist, not only offered to talk to me about my injury but she left her 2 children at home with a sitter, brought over her little bag full of tape, pressure-point needles and lavender-scent massage cream to help ease my pain...twice this week. She checked on me every day by phone and has found a chiropractor for me to start seeing next week.

Roisin and Rachel each have a child of their own, tracked across town for me, brought their swimmers and took Diego for a swim one afternoon. They also demanded I pack a bag and spend the night at Roisin's so she can feed me breakfast, lunch and dinner and watch Diego with Rachel's help.

I have known these wonderful women for a good 4 months. We all arrived from Tokyo and Australia to the same serviced apartment around Christmas time last year. The time that was very crazy in our husband's world. We were all grateful to immediately find each other and found that our kids all played well together and everyone seemed sweet enough to start a weekly playgroup and the occasional Sunday brunch with our husbands.

The sad thing is that it is taking us a long time to really get to know each other. When Kylie came over with her knowledge of sport injuries and went on about joints, discs and the muscles around them, I was so embarrassed that I didn't know that this is what she did before she became a mom. We get so caugth up in our new, present life with kids that we forget what we were before! She massaged me, tested several nerves and my flexibility and we chatted all while Diego slept and really started to get to know each other. I vowed that I will try to get to know everyone a little better and didn't ask if she thought 2 hours was too long of a nap for Diego or what she thought of the latest class at Gymboree.

Even as acquaintances, 3 very busy women who worry about preparing the next meal, washing their toddlers hands obsessively, throwing laundry in the washer before hitting the park for the day, have a huge desire to lend a hand to a fellow mom who has family across the world and a husband on a business trip. They don't care if I know how many sugars they like in their coffee or what brand of jeans they are wearing. They don't care if I forgot to mention what I did on my last trip because I already posted it all on Facebook. We all understand that when we see each other, we are there to help each other get through the daily grind and cry if we need to, complain and bitch about husbands working late or mention how sleep deprived we all have been.

I do want to know more about these women. I want to know what their favorite books are and how many siblings they have. And not just because they came to my rescue but because we are all new to Singapore and we are sharing the same experience, away from our childhood friends and our own mothers. We need each other to survive and keep our sanity. So we will start organizing girl's night out and leave the energetic toddlers with daddies so we can talk all evening about us for a change and get to know what really makes us-us.