As I sit here, nursing a relatively mild hangover (considering that last night was the legendary Aleks Jassem’s birthday party), I feel the need to write through the fog because last night, amidst the tequila & sodas, dim lights, and Kanye’s new album, I realized something about The Rebel Mama that made me more proud than anything else has thus far.

I often think about purpose – my own, of course, but also the purpose of TRM. It was created to offer an alternative. A zone where anything goes, a place to turn to when you need a reminder that motherhood can’t be defined in just one way. It’s as safe as it is cool. As chic as it is gritty. Something that the modern woman can relate to.

What I didn’t expect is the secondary effect of the site – something I really discovered last night, through multiple conversations with people sans kids who also felt safe in the Rebel Mama community.

It seems that what we’ve ended up doing is opening up a broader conversation about parenthood. There’s something about our content has stuck a chord with our child-free counterparts and it’s helped them to better understand our reality.

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#B2B party, circa 2015

What I hope that means is that friendships won’t suffer as badly as they typically have once one party decides to pop a baby out. Hopefully, if your OG homies have a grasp on what the hell is going on in the shit show that is your life with kids, they will understand your momentary absences. They’ll have some sympathy for everything you’re going through – mentally, physically, and emotionally, and maybe even figure out a way to help you through the struggle.

We adore the friends who have made us who we are over the years. We carry a bit of their rebel spirits with us every day – even when we’re dripping with spit up and on our very last nerve… We know that it’s them that put the “Rebel” in The Rebel Mama and if what we write here can play a part in maintaining the love, then my god has this all ever been worth the trouble.

Rebel on, everybody. Rebel on.

(Thanks to Soho House’s strict No Photo Policy, these are literally the only photos on my phone from ye old b-day party. Thanks to Vodka, Aleks also had no photos to contribute to this piece.)