Ok so like I know this sounds totally stupid but I feel super ashamed to even say this out loud, or like, type it. I’m 32, which feels ancient sometimes, and I just had my second kid, a little girl. My first is a boy, he’s three. So yeah, I’m kinda in the thick of it with the baby stuff. My husband is great, don’t get me wrong, but like… it’s a lot. And sometimes I feel like I’m just drowning in diapers and baby food and trying to keep the house from looking like a disaster zone. So I have this group chat, right? It’s with my college friends. There’s like five of us, and we were super close back then. Like, we lived together for two years, went through all the crazy stuff college throws at you. And for a while after we all graduated and started our real lives, we kept it up. Bragging about promotions, complaining about awful dates, sharing pics of our first apartments in the city. It was good, it felt like home. But lately… it’s just crickets. I’ll send a text, something kinda funny about my son’s latest tantrum, or a picture of the baby doing something cute, or even just like, “Hey, anyone free for a quick coffee this week?” And nothing. Maybe one person will like it, or send a thumbs up emoji, but no actual words. It’s not even like they’re active in the chat with each other without me. It’s just… dead. I can see they’ve read it, but no one replies. And I know, I KNOW, everyone is busy. They all have their own lives. One of them just got a big promotion, another one just moved to a new neighborhood, two of them have their own kids now too. But like, is it just me? Am I the only one who feels like they’re trying to keep something alive that’s just… gone? Like, I see their stories on Instagram, they’re going out to brunch, doing stuff, and I just… don’t get invited? Or even like, included in the chat anymore? It makes me feel so small, like I’m not interesting enough, or maybe I’m just boring now that I’m a mom of two. It feels kinda pathetic to even be upset about group texts, but it’s more than that. It’s like a piece of my old life, my old self, is just… fading away. And I don’t know how to get it back, or if I even should try. It just really hurts, you know? Like, are there other people out there who just suddenly realize their friendships from before are just… over? And it’s not even a fight, it’s just silence. It’s like watching a plant die, slowly, and you keep watering it, but it just won’t perk up.