Girls' Night

I am so thankful to have some great girlfriends.

When I was younger, I wasn't sure that I saw a lot of value in having girlfriends. I thought, "girls can be a lot of work; catty, mean, sensitive--boys are more straightforward." And for a lot of years, I hung out with guys. My mother always told me that women were important, and that I should never neglect to make girlfriends.

"They will be the ones who hold your hand when you cry, support you when you need someone, stand up with you at your wedding, and be with you when you have babies. You need girlfriends."

I always said, "okay, Ma," rolled my eyes and thought no way, no how!

But at this point in my life, I am thankful for the advice my mother gave me. And thankful for the girlfriends that God has so wonderfully put into my life.

I went to dinner with a few tonight, and we had a great time (of course). We always do. We met for pedicures at the little place we love, then headed to a restaurant where we exclaimed over the food and wine in gusty breaths of awe and excitement. We have all decided that one of the best parts of our friendship is the fact that we all LOVE FOOD. A LOT. A LOT, A LOT. But that's not really the point. The point is that we took a little time to be together; to chat, to hang out, to laugh and tell stories and sometimes commiserate over work.

It gave three of them a night to themselves away from husbands and children; it gave me a night to spend with three of the most put-together, lovely women I know. And now that I am home, it got me thinking about the beauty of girlfriends.

I love Husband more than anyone in the world. He is my best friend and the first person I want to talk to, laugh with, cry with, or lean on. He understands what I need and how I think (most of the time) and loves me for just exactly who and what I am.

Yet there is something about girlfriends that is priceless. Our wedding taught me that as well. As I was getting ready for the ceremony, I remember thinking that I had chosen my bridesmaids well, because these 4 women were the women that I really, truly wanted with me.

And after the ceremony, as the four of them (plus my aunt, mother, and mother-in-law) helped me remove the skin tight shape wear I wore for the ceremony without me having to get out of my dress, I had this revelation: Girlfriends who love you this much are worth their weight in gold.

When you have women around you who are willing to love you, laugh with you, buy a bridesmaids dress at the drop of a hat, travel to your wedding, risk freezing to death in chiffon in October outside in Wyoming, get teary when you say your vows, exclaim over every silly detail of your wedding day, AND help you shimmy out of the Spanx sucking you in without your having to take your dress off: You are a lucky woman.

Truly. Never did I ever think I would find myself in that situation (ps-as my father says, spanx are something NO man should ever see), but since I did, I couldn't be more thankful that I had someone there to help me.

Girlfriends can be a lot of work sometimes. Because we can be sensitive and catty and hurtful and petty. But we can also be loving and tender and joyous and gleeful and profound. And we are so needed. It's so easy to get busy and wrapped up with jobs, boyfriends, husbands, children, or just the never-ending pile of laundry. But making time for that much needed interaction is so good and delightful.

So here's to girls' night, and all my wonderful girls: thank you for being a part of my life, and for allowing me to be a part of yours.

Laundry

I don't know why I ever thought I maybe even liked laundry. Because now that I live in a house where there are two people contributing to the laundry pile, I hate it. And I am truly horrified by the notion that our household is, in all likelihood, going to get bigger eventually, which will mean that the laundry pile will get bigger.

GAAAAHHHH!!!!

But while Husband and I have been doggedly laundering our massive mountains of fabrics like crazy-laundry-doing-fools, something happened today that made me hate laundry just a little more.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!

Isn't laundry bad enough without clothes coming out looking like they were washed in a tumbler with Wolverine's claws?!??!?!

This is my favorite dress shirt, almost de-limbed by the washer that we have been saying we should probably replace. After this, Husband decided that he would move up finding a new washer machine to the top of the to-do list.

For this, I am glad.

I don't think shredded is a look I can pull off.

Just saying'.