Friends

Once a year, I get together for a "girls weekend" with some old friends. Some, I have known since babyhood. Some, since high school. But, we all still stay in touch. I don't think there are many who are this lucky. (Of course, FaceBook makes staying in touch much easier...)

We started doing this weekend away 15 years ago. At that time, it was always a "contest" to guess which one of us was going to be pregnant for the next year's get-a-way. Because with 7 of us, someone always was. For about 10 years.... I don't know the statistics, but out of the 7 of us, someone should be divorced by now too. And, while I almost got to claim that distinction 9 years ago, none of us are. I find this amazing. It speaks to me about the strength, the faith, the commitment of all these women. Now, we were laughing about the fact that very easily within the next 5-10 years we will be playing the guessing game again - about grandchildren! This year, its the start of college plans for some of us, high school for others, and a few with grade-schoolers yet. We've got it ALL covered!

We used to stay up most of the night, catching up, laughing, playing games, watching movies, scrapbooking. And, we still do that. But, for myself anyway - I can say it takes a few more days to catch up than it used to! And, this year I left early. With Paul away, I planned to come home Saturday anyway. I didn't want to leave the kids on their own more than one night. Which worked out well - Paul was able to come home for a night! The first time since January 23rd that we have slept under the same roof. It felt really good. It felt really normal. Then I had to bring him back tonight. That didn't feel very good. Or normal. I haven't cried much about any of this. Which has seemed a little strange to me - I can cry about a tv commercial! But, tonight - its a crying kind of night. I don't want to be strong anymore. I'm just tired I guess.

Its good to know I have people I can turn to when I need to rest. People who have known me a long time. People I trust, when I just can't keep going. Oh, we have our "high school" moments. We are human after all! We don't all click all the time. Some of us don't see eye-to-eye about things. We have different ideas about just about everything. But, still, we are friends. We care about each other. We support each other. When it comes right down to it, any one of these women would do whatever it took to be there for any one of us.  And, I know that all of us have others in our lives who fulfill this for us as well. We all have lots of other friends. Some of us even have "better" friends. But, like I said in the beginning, we are LUCKY to have each other. To know each other. To be "there" for each other. And I just want to say Thank You to my friends. Ladies, you are wonderful friends. I appreciate each of you so much. I really needed to get out of my life for a bit. And you all made that happen. It might not have been for very long - but it was just enough! My one night this year was just right :)