In Search of the Perfect Meeting Place
Debbi Heffern
St. Louis MO USA
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 40 No. 3, June-July 2004, pp. 60-61.
Once upon a time, there was
an evening La Leche League Group that met in mothers’ homes. It
was cozy. There were toys for the toddlers. And there was always a kitchen
for great snack preparation. Everyone thought a home was the perfect
meeting place.
But as the Group got larger,
it became hard to find a big enough living room, and there were times
when the hostess’ children didn’t like sharing their toys.
During the darker evenings of winter, mothers sometimes had a hard time
finding their way through the winding streets of the neighborhoods.
So the Group looked for a new meeting place.
One of the members lived
in a condominium complex and offered the Group the clubhouse there.
It had a large living room with lots of comfortable, sturdy furniture.
The parking lot was well-lit at night and plowed of snow in the winter.
The meetings were always in the same place, so mothers didn’t have
to worry about getting lost. Everyone thought the clubhouse was the
perfect meeting place.
After several years, though,
the mother who lived in the condominium complex moved away, so the Group
could no longer use the clubhouse. But that was okay. Going up and down
the stairs had become exhausting with the four Library crates. The gorgeous
fireplace and glass-topped coffee tables proved too much of an attraction
for some of the preschoolers. So the Group looked for a new meeting
place.
A local government center,
newly remodeled, had just opened some meeting rooms for public use.
There were no stairs, it was free, and could be reserved for six months
at a time. Since the government center shared a door with the police
station, the mothers felt safe and the occasional police car leaving
with lights flashing and sirens blaring entertained the toddlers. The
room itself, though, was just a refurbished classroom. There were tables
for the Group Library, lots of chairs, and nothing else. Boisterous,
older children no longer came to the meetings because they had nothing
to do. The lack of carpeting made spills easy to clean, but the floor
was rather cold for the crawling babies. So a mother volunteered to
bring a carpet every month. During the years when the Group was big,
there was plenty of space for a large circle of chairs. After the Group
split, the remaining mothers gathered around one of the tables. It was
cozy and the discussions were heartwarming. Everyone thought the government
center was the perfect meeting place.
After many years, the government
center remodeled again, this time making the rooms too small for the
La Leche League Group. Using the room was going to cost money under
the new policies, too. So the Group looked for a new meeting place.
A nearby middle school offered
the Group a home-economics classroom—and it had a carpet! It also
had plenty of chairs and tables for the expanded Group Library of five
crates. Everyone thought it was the perfect meeting place. But the carpet
had pins in it from the sewing classes during the day—a hazard
to little feet and knees. Several months in a row, the school rescheduled
the Group’s meeting because it needed the parking lot for student
functions. So the Group looked for a new meeting place.
One of the Group’s fathers
offered his company’s office meeting space. His employees were
so excited to have “company coming” that they scrubbed the
toilets and carefully vacuumed every inch of the carpet. There was a
private parking lot, no stairs, and best of all, the meeting room had
bean bag chairs, which the pregnant mothers loved! Everyone thought
the office was the perfect meeting place. But the space was surrounded
by computers and cables, which needed to be covered by bed sheets before
every meeting. And the Group had grown too large once again to fit into
the small space. The Group looked for a new meeting place.
Some of the members, who
had attended a local high school, suggested there might be a room available
there in a recently completed building-expansion project. At the intersection
of two highways and across from a well-known hospital, the high school
would be easy to give directions to. The meeting room was large and
carpeted and had lots of tables and chairs. There was a kitchen with
a door they could close. Signs in the parking lot declared that several
spaces were “Reserved Second Thursday,” the day the Group
traditionally meets. Perhaps it was meant to be—the perfect meeting
place!
Because so many mothers discovered
the Group at this location, the meetings became large and noisy. The
circle was too big. Leaders couldn’t read the mothers’ name
tags and mothers didn’t get to know each other. It was clear that
the Group needed to offer a morning meeting, too.
Once upon a time, there was
a Group that offered evening meetings at a high school and morning meetings
in mothers’ homes. The evening meetings were great for pregnant
and employed mothers. The morning meetings were cozy and the mothers
had a chance to make long-term friendships. Everyone agreed that these
were the perfect meeting places!
This article was adapted
from an article that appeared in the May-June 2003 issue of EnFace,
the Area Leaders’ Letter of LLL of Kansas, USA. Debbi Heffern lives
in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, has been a Leader since 1983, and is a
registered dietitian and IBCLC. She has three adult children, Michael,
Kathy, and Kevin, and she will be a grandma in July 2004. Debbi writes,
“Kevin’s wife, Jen, has already attended her first LLL meeting
(and I didn't push her at all!). I firmly believe that breastfeeding
is the foundation of human health, a huge part of women's and human
rights, and thus supporting breastfeeding women is among the most important
work we could ever do.”
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:23 UTC 2007.
