The Girls

Tonight was a "girls' night" in my little world. That does not mean a pub crawl or a Chippendale's revue either. I just had the opportunity to spend time with friends and kick off what will actually be nearly a week of interacting with various friends past and present.

Tonight, there were five of us having dinner and discussing life in general. We share what is going on in our respective worlds and enjoy a couple of hours of just doing what we girls do best...uplifting and supporting each other. Prior to this, I was given some wonderful outgrown clothes from a friend who is extraordinarily generous...but also far ahead of me in the weight loss journey. That represented another facet of female friendships...we share the wealth. Gladly...graciously...and without coercion.

Tomorrow, I will go to lunch with a friend to celebrate my birthday last month, and it will be fun talking about who knows what. It always is with this friend. Some people just have a welcoming spirit and make you feel at home around them.

The following day will go visit my folks before Mom takes off on a monthlong trip to France to see my sister. I'm totally envious! But I haven't been over in too long as they normally come here to visit with us. Spending time with them will make me happy, and is a great pit stop between here and Macon. (And because I'm directionally impaired...don't tell me if it isn't.)

I will then go to Macon to visit the college I haven't seen since 1983 and to reconnect with wonderful women with which I started out in college life many moons ago when I was a far different person than I am today. Oh, I'm still fun, I guess...but in a far more subdued way. I think that's called "maturity" but I'm not entirely sure.

A couple of days later, I'll then drive home to attend a wedding shower and enjoy looking at a table of what I'm sure will be awesome food that I cannot eat. The room will likely be full of women that I enjoy visiting with, and I'll get to meet the fiancee of a young man that graduated just three years ahead of Jill. Hard to believe.

I'm then traveling to Tuscaloosa to see my baby girl and hang out with her and her three roommates. They probably don't know or care that I am coming...but I've wanted to just camp out up there sometime...and so I'm going to do that. I intend to cook for her and the roommates...and look forward to the time just hanging out.

Anyway, just thinking about all of this has reminded me of how fortunate I am to have the female friends that I do. Some offer amazing support and others just make me laugh. I do what I can to make their journey through life easier, and they certainly enrich mine. While I love the males in my life...it is a totally different dynamic. And having been in a house where I'm outnumbered for the past two years, I've realized that I really just need time to just hang out with the girls.

So, although I have a whirlwind week ahead of me, I suspect that it will be a whole lot of fun and will go by way too fast. I just know that getting out of my routine and making time to hang out with people that I normally don't see except on Facebook or through the occasional phone call or text is something I'm really looking forward to. I mean, whenever you get groups of girls together, we are going to come away encouraged, enlightened, or at least entertained...and there's a lot to be said for that.

So, I'll be on the road for the next few days and may not be writing as much. But I assure you that I'll have plenty to talk about when I get back!