Girlfriends...

"...my friend, she is my insides..." Carrie, Sex & The City

There is something special about girlfriends... they are your family, they know you better than you know yourself, they make you laugh, they hold your hand when you cry, they cheer for you when you succeed.  Sometimes they ARE your family, sometimes they are a childhood friend that has known you forever; most of the time they are the women you have met over time, through all of life's twists and turns...boyfriends, jobs, school, etc...  I have always believed that the amazing women I have met over the years have all come into my life for some reason or another...

My girlfriends have gotten me through everything... the good times and the not so good times; they understand me better than anyone, they tell me the things that I need to hear (whether I will like them or not), and they are the women that I always know that I can count on... they have helped me through difficult decisions, talked me down from the ledge when I do my usual over-analysis of a situation, and encouraged me to take a chance when I really just want to run...

When I try to imagine what my life would be like without my girlfriends...well, I just can't.  It is literally inconceivable to me.  So, it is hard to hear that someone who was a friend of mine in high school has passed away...  I will always remember her as a sweet, loving, teenage girl, that I got to know as "Sarah Sue" when we worked together at Adrian's Frozen Custard.  I lost touch with her in the years that followed high school, and now I will always regret that we never did hook up for that cup of coffee we talked about getting this past December, when we reconnected after so many years.

The message today is this... keep your girlfriends close.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day of life and responsibility, and neglect the relationships that mean the most to us.  When we assume that we have all of the time in the world to "catch up" with those important women, sometimes we find that time has run out on us...  For all of the girlfriends in my life... you are MY "insides"; you mean everything to me and I can't imagine being ME without having YOU.