Sometimes the village doesn’t show up

 Sometimes the village doesn’t show up

No one brings meals
No one offers to hold the baby so you can shower
No one checks in

And it hurts
Because you thought you’d have more support
Because you believed people when they said let me know if you need anything

But here’s the truth no one talks about
Sometimes you have to build your own village
From scratch
While you’re running on two hours of sleep and cold coffee

You find your people one by one
The friend who shows up with coffee unannounced
The online mom group that gets it
The partner who learns to step up without being asked
The neighbor who smiles and doesn’t judge the meltdown

You build it slowly
Painfully
Brick by brick
And you become the village you never had
Not just for yourself but for your kids too
Because they’re watching
And one day they’ll know what it looks like to show up
What it means to be someone’s village