Last night, I held our book club meeting at our apartment. We had eight girls, some close friends, some strangers to each other, and some of us hadn't seen each other since high school. It was so much fun even though we discussed the book for about 3 minutes! I had a feeling that would happen but that's okay.
It got me thinking how vital girlfriends are to life. Everyone has different types of friend circles. I have a lot of girlfriends, a few of them are super close never let them go type of friends. I have no doubt that we'll be friends for life. I also have my sister and two sisters in law. I'm also so lucky because my mom and my mother-in-law are also like girlfriends, the kind you can go to movies and craft fairs with.
I know not everyone has close girlfriends but they are so important to life. There are actually many studies that show that female friendship and strong female bonds will actually protect you from life's adversities. How crazy it that? Well, not that crazy if I think about how much better I feel after bonding with my girls.
It doesn't matter if it's going to a movie, coffee, or a club. It doesn't matter if it's one girlfriend of ten. It makes such a difference to my life to have these girls in my life, only a phone call/text/bbm message away. They're always there for even the silliest questions: "What the hell is cream of tartar?" "How do I get to Supreme Court?"
If you don't have close girlfriends, don't worry. You can build these friendships with time and effort and good memories. But you do have to make an effort and reach out to people. Many years ago, I felt like I didn't see my friends enough and someone said to me to stop whining and do something about it. From then on I've always planned events, girls nights, Christmas parties, movies, dinners, whatever. As long as I get to see my girls, I don't care what we're doing.
Many girls let their husbands and boyfriends stand in as a girlfriend. This bothers me. In my opinion, which is just an opinion, unless your man just LOVES shopping and chick flicks (and there are guys out there that do) it's just cruel and unusual to drag him along. You would have so much more fun at the movies or the mall with a girlfriend, and your man will have much more fun at home with pizza, beer and the hockey game. So just let him be and do your own thing!
Another thing that's so great about girlfriend time is that it gives you something to look forward to. Next to my computer monitor at work, I have a Hello Kitty calendar (I didn't purchase this, I inherited it with my office) filled with events. When I look at my calendar, it makes me smile. And not because of Hello Kitty, either. It's because my girlfriends are so amazing and every time I see them I feel light and happy.
This subject is so important to me that I have to divide this post into two parts. Seriously.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.
xoxo,
T
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