I've gone through most of my adult life keeping the same friends I have had since childhood. You will learn more about one of them in the next couple weeks, but today I want to focus on beginning a new friendship.
Becoming a mother so quickly after I got married, I was hoisted into the life of parenthood. While I am so blessed to have that as a part of my story, I do know that sacrifices were made in order for me to devote my time to my family. I am 100 percent okay with this. Especially because by me having kids, allowed me to find an amazing group of weirdos I am so proud to call my friends.
It's true. My friends are weirdos. And I love that about us.
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| Not pictured: Katie C. She was busy being pregnant when we went on our girls trip in 2013 |
We all met one another through our children's daycare. I'm not going to get into the sub groupings or pairs of friendships that were already founded before the mommy group began; that would be down right exhausting! Basically, we all knew each other existed, and we were all sweet to one another; we just never took the time to get to know one another. It wasn't until our older kids started attending birthday parties that we began to connect (buying time at the party so we don't lose our minds).
Then somewhere in between the most horrible bowling birthday party in the history of man kind and Deacon's 5th birthday party that we all sat down and decided that we probably need to hang out more often.
Thus began girls night #1. We met at the Yacht Club had had an absolute blast! We could totally pull off this friend thing--there was not a single awkward pause in communication and it just felt like we have been friends for ever.
After a few monthly girls nights, we decided it would be smart to go on a trip to Gatlinburg. This was the true test for all of us. It's hard staying in a tiny cabin with six women. Who knew if we'd even like each other by the end of it. Fortunately for us, it turned out that we can totally pull off a trip and not get sick of each other!
There are several reasons why I love these women so much and I am so incredibly thankful for them. Since we LOVE lists, I decided I will do just that, list my reasons:
- We each hold different beliefs and may have have different opinions on some things and that doesn't matter to us. We hang out together because we challenge each other to be better than we were the day before.
- Weirdness. If I said it once, I've said it one million times: we are a melting pot of weird. I love that we have each have our own story and that more than likely, we would NEVER have hung out in our past lives, yet it works in this group.
- Inside jokes. We have a ton and that makes me feel important.
- Tough love. Oh we dish it sometimes when it is needed and we are all okay with this.
- Time. We make time for our friendship. Before the girls night is over, we are already scheduling the next one.
- Kindness. I've never met a group of kinder souls and I am so thankful
- They laugh at my jokes. Duh, this is a deal breaker if they don't think I'm funny.
Another great thing about this group are the sub groups. For example, a few of us get together and run, while two of us have kids that go to the same grade school. One subgroup even brought in a new friendship that I am equally as thankful for and quite possibly a HUGE life lesson.
Katie M, Laura and I are avid fans of the blog Momastery. If you've not heard of it, go check her out--incredible. Anyway, we found out that the writer of the blog was coming to speak in Lexington. We decided this was a no-brainer and we traveled down to see Glennon speak. As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed that a car that had been following us parked right next to us. Out of the car came a nicely dressed woman. I assumed she was meeting someone at a restaurant across the street. To my surprise, she started following the three of us. We stopped to get a picture, and the woman asked if we wanted her to take it. We asked her if she was going to the event and she said yes. We asked if she was meeting anyone up there and she said no. NO?! Okay, so let me stop for a minute. When I say "we," I actually mean, Laura. I really had no intention of starting any kind of conversation with that woman.
This is where the life lesson began. You really never know who you are going to meet and why God put them in your life, so it is important you are open and kind to EVERYONE. This is something that I knew, I just fell out of practice. Laura was the brave one and initiated the conversation. I'm so glad and thankful she did.
Turns out this sweet woman drove up from ALABAMA by herself to see Glennon. That was enough of that. We adopted her and made her sit with us. We then exchanged emails/facebook/twitters and vowed to stay in touch.
I always knew that I would prefer to have a few great friends instead of thousands of aquaintances. This mommy group reinforces that feeling. The sum is definitely greater when we are together. To my girls; thank you for reminding me how important it is to have deep, meaningful friendships. Thank you for letting me vulnerable. Thanks for loving me just the way I am.
Oh and I'm thankful for the food. We certainly know the best way to our hearts is through tiny bell peppers, cheesy potatoes, beer bread, buffalo chicken salad, anything wrapped in bacon and chocolate :)
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