The sisterhood only women can share
Every morning I get up, get myself and my daughter ready and go on about my day - sometimes I have help from my spouse and some days I'm solo. It's a tough gig, but we do what we have to according to the crazy work schedules we keep. Depending on what job I am bouncing around to for the day depends a lot on which fantastic group of people I will interact with. I'm glad I have daily adult interaction to counterbalance the "toddler speak" I face at home and the other typical home adult conversations I have about finances, who is going to do preschool pick up and the ever-pressing question: what's for dinner?
I don't really remember there being one specific time in life where a switch was flipped and I went from going out with my girls to going on dinner dates with my now husband, but somewhere there was a paradigm shift and I arrived to my current state of being.
This is not a bad thing by no means - I love my family and tell myself I also love all the very grown-up tasks I'm responsible for around here. Like, remembering to check the bills on auto draft or geeking out about snagging the good toilet paper on sale. Yes, somewhere I became content with becoming strictly business as a wife and mother and lost that connection of being a fun-loving girlfriend to my gals. Sometimes it can be a bit lonely. No woman is an island.
This is where I am glad to have realized the hard truth: I need that group of ladies who will stand in a circle on a dance floor with me and let loose. I'm just glad they are also the same girls who are there to listen when life's quandaries require talking it out over a three mile run or a glass of wine and dinner.
The relationships in our lives are a delicate balance, especially when you throw kids into the mix - let me take this moment to shout out to my single and newlywed friends for never making me feel left out because I have a mini-me to tend to. And the fact that they love Stella like she's, well, one of the girls is just the bee's knees.
I subscribe to the motto in life that there is always room for more - more love, more happiness and more friends. You never know where life is going to bring you and who life is going to bring to you - I'm just glad friends exist who will take me hiking, encourage me to train for a half marathon, go to concerts, give honest truth on fashion via text message photo sharing, and stand in the rain for Mardi Gras parades.
The phrase, "make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold," comes to mind. What does that even mean? I think it's saying that new friends are valuable and old friends are a great treasure - don't lose your old friends to new ones. Sure, we grow apart due to moving for work, hectic schedules and just the fact that "life" gets in the way. There are these little things called Facebook and text messaging there to help us feel connected even though we are apart. It's a blessing and a curse when I feel connected because of social media that I often forget I need to actually reach out and reconnect with some of those friends I have been missing. Note to self: make some time to call one special lady I miss and catch up on her new baby sometime this week.
The right group of girls can bring you out of a funk and make you double over in laughter - they are even really good at taking ridiculous selfies because we understand our inner desire to photograph every moment together and let the world roll their eyes at us.
So, bring on the girls nights and weekend getaways because ladies, we need each other no matter how old we are.