From an early age, we learn that friendships hold such importance. Through play we are taught about sharing. We take turns in games. Friends tell each other secrets and celebrate different events together.

But what happens as we grow older to keep those unique bonds going? Our range of friends extends to all different personalities. How do we talk so that our friends listen and more importantly, how can we determine what we want out of a friendship?

I am newly postpartum, not quite awake, standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, shush-shushing a 4-litre jug of milk and rocking it back and forth, soothingly, the same way I’ve been rocking a screamy baby for what feels like a week straight. Through bleary eyes, I read the headlines jumping out at me from the glossy magazine covers featuring impossibly beautiful women.

“How to Get Your Body Back!” Like I’ve disappeared so far into motherhood that I am no longer here. My body grew a tiny, furious human. It laboured for two days and birthed nine and a half pounds of gumption and tenacity. But now, as my belly is no longer satisfyingly rotund but instead soft and sagging, I have ceased to exist. How to Get Your Body Back. How to Erase the Parts of You We Don’t Want to See. How to Look More Visually Appealing so We’ll Acknowledge Your Existence.