Lori chillin’ in her backyard as we work on our Micromovent Monday lists.After spending Monday night and all day Tuesday last week with Lori working on our Micromovement Monday lists and just having fun together, I drove home with this thought in mind: there’s an actual chance that Lori may end up being a cool FWK. My cool FWK. As in a friend I could describe to someone else like this: That’s my girlfriend, Lori. She’s a mom. But she’s cool.

Of course, Matteo has yet to start crawling, her second (and third?) kid has yet to be born, and the full impact of having pre-teens and teens in the house has yet to be felt (well, there’s her husband Sal)…but still. For the first time, I can see how the “Lori as a mom” thing and our friendship can work. Together. And not just in parallel dimensions either.

Why my sudden change of attitude (not that I was totally against the idea…just a bit skeptical)? I don’t really know. Just a feeling. And sometimes that’s good enough. But I think it really has to do with the fact that after spending a whole day with Lori and seeing how committed she is to herself, to finding something meaningful that she can call hers, to being creative, and to having fun with me, I see the baby thing more as a minor bad habit (like a guy who forgets to put the toilet seat down) than as a huge character flaw (like being a murderer).

And as much as I hate it when the toilet seat is left up, it’s not the end of the world. I can deal.