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| Matching bracelets: the official symbol of girly friendship since Forever. |
I just got back from 4 days vacation with my "lady loves" and their guys. I met several of these girls in elementary school and all of them by age 13. An identifiable clique in high school (with pictures galore to prove it!) our interests varied from sports and theater to student government and studying (we be smarties if I do say so myself!) And as we grew up and apart in our day to day, we grew closer at heart, connected by the strength of a shared history and one epic group email chain. When one of our own was tragically taken from us in 2011, we leaned on one another to cope and committed that very week to taking a trip celebrating our friendship sometime soon.
3 years and one journey to Jamaica later, our friendship is deeper than most would think possible (or sane... Dr. H stared in disbelief when I told him 3 of us were reuniting tonight to workout and we were planning a full group dinner for early Aug!) Friendship, especially for girls, can be tricky to maintain, but a mix of love, respect, compromise and hard work just might be our secret. Love is the obvious one, but the other three are where I think we really shine. You see, my girls and I are not at all "the same"; though we have many shared values, we have dramatically different lines of work, day-to-day lifestyles, taste in men... you name it! But we click because we respect each other tremendously and we compromise (or even sacrifice) in the name of avoiding conflict. And then there is the hard work. We email and call and text, make plans, reach out, send gifts and provide mountains of support even when it isn't convenient or easy. It's as though we all silently agreed to "just do it" because we knew the benefits would far outweigh the effort. And they do. My girls are one of the greatest joys in my life and I feel blessed everyday to have them. So here's to my girls and yours and to best friendship and all it entails.
