How It Started
There isn’t a specific moment that all of this just came to be. It’s been years of friendships, pain, growth, joy, feeling stuck, mess ups, and feeling like every bit of research, work, advocacy, and connections with others all led me back to one thing…we’re good inside and we need each other in all seasons of life. I do hear two of my oldest friends laughing and saying “Mel’s Friends!” years and years ago. I did this thing where I would come across people who I knew would get along with someone I already knew… I’d introduce them, encourage them to connect, and then I’d move along. I am a people person, but I’m actually quite introverted- but I like to connect people. I see myself and my friends in other humans. Connectedness is something I believed in, long before the internet made it easier to find others riding the same waves in life. Maybe it’s from years of practice messing up, beginning again, and coming back to earth with the same answer each time. People need each other.
Through vulnerability in this fishbowl of a town, I realized how common shame, and lack of self confidence is. We all mess up, and I want everyone to know they’re not alone. Mel’s Friends offers spaces and times for us to be ourselves and let go of what’s holding us back from living our best lives.
Fast forward a few years, I became a momma. There’s something big they failed to mention in my prenatal care… Motherhood would completely swing my doors of perception open and change me. Everything I thought I knew about parenting was up for grabs. There, sat this raw, untamed, authentic version of myself… I am so grateful it happened, but I had a lot to relearn. I found Magda Gerber, Janet Lansbury, and RIE (Resources for Infant Educators). Through RIE, I discovered mindfulness, meditation, and so many beautiful families going through the throws of parenting along side me.
In my living room I began to throw together this passion that has been living inside me for over a decade. On a post-it, with a sharpie I drew us as stick people holding hands. I envisioned having 10 acres of land somewhere here, where all of us could come be. I thought it’d take on a more hippie appeal, with camp outs, places for us to live if we needed to, community gardens, family bands, and fields available for farmers to use. This still could happen… but I decided that my work, like it’s always been, remains with the children, and the community that supports them. I began studying RIE and the rest is history.
After a few very hard years, I decided that Nashville was indeed my home, and I would need to find ways for all of us to feel welcome here. I took the advice of a dear friend, Victoria- “there is space for all of us at the table.” So, I ran with Mel’s Friends. My RIE mentor, Shannon came in with some more great advice “if the work doesn’t feel right, stop”. I’ve dedicated time and energy and resources to this and finding others who are aligned…And here we are… Ain’t life grand…
I am so excited for 2024! My goal/vision for us is to have fun ways to connect, more child led nature play, give back to our community, educate ourselves, unlearn, reparent, find support in our wins and struggles, and just simply be a community of people who are just humans-doing the best we can. It truly is for those of us that begin again, many times, each day. Mel’s Friends is about people helping people out.
I’m glad you’re here.
