September 9, 2009 | 1:00 pm

Not a Groupie

Posted by Mihal Levy

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Recently, my friends have been joining mommy groups.  Groups where moms and their kids get together for weekly outings and activities.  (How is that different from the play dates and activities I already have with my son and friends?  I don’t know…but I’m guessing that it just is.)  I don’t belong to a mommy group.  Maybe I needed to.  I, too, want to swap recipes, host Tupperware parties and join multi-tiered marketing schemes. I began to feel left out.  Something had to be done.

So, I did what any good mother would do, and researched the best of mommy groups out there on the internet, of course.

And there it was: www.meetup.com.

Meetup.com is a group heaven.  There are hundreds of groups to choose from anywhere in the country, and not just for mommies.  I was overwhelmed.  How do you choose the perfect one?  Then, I found one in my area.  “Star Trek and Space Exploration Group,” but thought that maybe I was getting off topic a little bit.  (How fun would it be to explore space, though?  Do they teleport themselves?)  So, I continued my search and found one that seemed to fit a little better.  I signed up for “San Fernando Valley Moms.”  (Because I just knew that we already were going to have a lot in common.  We were from the same geographic region, how could we not?)

I couldn’t wait to join.  I began imagining hosting Tupperware parties, buying scrapbooking supplies and earning my Gold Star sales executive pin in my new marketing group.  I couldn’t wait…but I had to. 

I filled out the questionnaire and clicked “join.”  A message appeared instantly: “awaiting reply from leader.”  So, I waited and waited and waited.  No reply. 

I double checked that my application was complete.  Yup.  Three pages all about me, my hobbies, my likes, my dislikes, my background, my opinions, my ideas, my life story and what I ate this morning for breakfast (I thought the last one was a little much, but answered it anyway -Lucky Charms.)

I couldn’t wait to hear from the leader.  I couldn’t wait to be led.
Two days later, it came…the email I had been waiting for. 

It read:

Your request to join The San Fernando Valley Moms Meetup Group
was declined.

The person who declined your request said:

Feel free to post your pic and re-
apply. 

A second chance?  Gold Star Executive of the month?  I decided to pass.  I’m actually glad I got rejected.  I know…that’s what everyone says when they get rejected.  But I REALLY mean it.  I’m just not cut out to fit into a certain group, and besides, I have way too many plastic storage containers already.