Pages

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The Importance of Girlfriends

I’ve been reminded recently, that I have an amazing group of friends. Some of them don’t know each other and some of them may not like each other, but all of them have one thing in common - strength.  Every single one of these women is an amazingly strong soul. Each of them have courage and traits that I admire, (some traits I wish I had!), and I couldn’t imagine getting through life without them. There may be weeks that pass before I have a chance to talk with some of them, or months before I actually get to see them, but I always know they are there.

Several years ago, I never understood the importance of having girl friends. I was so busy running the kids around, and between baseball, soccer, dance, swim, horseback riding, and work, I thought I didn’t have time for “friends”. In fact, due to my own insecurities, I probably cut short a few friendships before they even had a chance to grow.  As I've matured I've learned that we women NEED girlfriends. They help us get through the best and worst of everything; friends are there patting our back or holding our hand when we need support, lifting our spirits when we are down, singing songs from the 80's with each other as loud as we can (just because that makes us happy).  There are also friends who are brave enough to tell us the ugly truths we don’t want to hear, but need to.

I do need to make more of an effort to see these women; a glass of wine here, a yoga class there, a hike on the C&O Canal Towpath, shopping, lunch. Work and after-school activities still gets in the way, more often than they should, but it’s always a blessing to know that my friends are there. I wish I were better at being a friend.  I tend to get caught up in my own little ADHD world, with a bazillion things going on in my mind.  I hope all of my friends know how much I appreciate them and that I will always be by their side, too.

I love my husband more than anything, and he is my best friend, but I need my girlfriends. My friends are like my family, except I got to pick them... or, you could say that I was lucky enough to be picked by them. I hope my daughter learns the importance of a good circle of girlfriends.