Girls weekend

We've known one another nearly thirty years. I love these friends, these remarkable women. We've known one another for so long that our girls weekends are like the continuation of an ongoing conversation, the threads just picked up where we left off last. I always learn something from my lovely girlfriends. I've learned about faith and strength in adversity. I am not the only forty-year-old woman who enjoys a good fart joke. Even with gray hair and wrinkles we are still strong and beautiful. Chocolate really can take care of just about anything, and a new pair of shoes and a good laugh take care of the rest. What wonderful qualities my dear friends share: strength, compassion, love, faith, loyalty. If you eat all day long you won't burst, but you'll make yourself and your friends miserable for the next few hours, hence the fart jokes-- it's hard to hide much from friends when you share a room. When you have good friends you never have to grieve or rejoice alone. An afternoon nap and quietly reading in the same room is lovely.

The bed and breakfast was heavenly. There were chocolate chip cookies in a jar and truffles on the pillows. Wine and tea and cocoa at the top of the stairs. Scrumptious breakfasts and good hot coffee served on a spotless table, and quiet conversation with grownups. A library with a window seat. I decided I wanted to live there forever. Loving husband could bring the kids by to visit and I'd drop by home to walk the dog and do my laundry.

I came home feeling refreshed and relaxed. I looked around the breakfast table and decided that if I had to choose one or the other forever and ever, I'd choose the mess and hubbub, the dog snuffing our toes, the laughter and the spills and the sticky fingers and the littlest one climbing into my lap. It was nice to get a break, but if I missed them this much after two days, how much more would I miss them after a week or a month?

Life is good. Dear friends, I hold you in my heart. I can't wait until our next weekend.