Girlfriends

You know what is even better than evolving and becoming a better person? Having people who have known you every step of your journey and are there to help you laugh about your mistakes and applaud your growth.

I just spent a picture perfect weekend in quaint Ocean Grove, New Jersey with three of my closest friends. I have known these girls since childhood and while distance and life has changed how often we see each other, our bond has not been erased.

We are all now 30-something women with husbands and kids, but for two days we were girls again. We stayed up late laughing on the porch until our stomachs hurt. We rubbed our toes in the sand on the beach. We ate ice cream in cones. We relished in the beautiful, crisp weather, skipping through town. We shopped for licorice and knick knacks. We talked about boys. We shared secrets.

As I was going through the moments we were sharing I felt overwhelmingly blessed. All our talks made me reflect on my life and the choices I have made, some good and some really bad. The beauty is, I have grown and improved and can look back on my life experiences with ease. There is no guilt and there is no shame, just memories. And these three amazing women are in those memories, some altogether, or just one of them apart of a moment in time. These women stood by me then and they stand by me now.

We talked about making the girls weekend an annual tradition, so that at least once a year we connect with our old friends and ourselves. I pray that we do in fact make it a tradition, but I am also realistic and know it’s a possibility we may never be able to re-create that magical weekend. Life is messy, time slips away, we get weighed down with responsibilities…so if any or all of those things prevent us from another weekend, I will close my eyes and go back to this moment in time and once again see my girlfriends.