Valentine’s Day is for Girlfriends too!

Valentine’s Day is the exchanging of cards and the giving of hearts full of candy to people we love.  That doesn’t only mean with a spouse or partner, well it can mean them, but it can also mean that Valentine’s Day is for girlfriends too!

Mom's favorite - Bleeding Hearts

Mom’s favorite – Bleeding Hearts

I’ve had friends who have seen me at my worst, a BFF who knows the size of my liver, sisters who are friends and friends who seem like sisters since I’ve known them forever.  I’ve had teachers, doctors, hair stylists and yoga instructors who I consider friends because we’ve looked and found the best in each other.  And while defining girlfriends, I recently read an article about the 8 types of friends a woman should have.  Is that all?

My girlfriends have counseled each other, celebrated with each other and mourned together.  They’ve been there to tell me (in a graceful manner), that I’m doing something stupid but they would still love me.  They’ve been there to laugh with, cry with and just be still with.  They’ve changed my surgical dressings, brushed my hair and took me to doctor appointments.  They supported me through major life changes because they know I’ll be there for theirs.  They’ve moved away, but never really do.  And as we always say… husbands and partners come and go, but girlfriends will last forever.

I think of my friends with such awe.  Not on a pedestal, because we all have that occasional ‘fail’ but because they pick themselves up and keep on going without a second thought. They’d be there in a minute, or in my case, a few hours by plane or car and they ALWAYS, no matter how busy or buried with work, find time to talk with me about anything, even a really, really bad haircut.

Girlfriends

Valentine’s Day is for Girlfriends too!

A couple of years ago a friend needed some special prayers; I reached out to a few of the women I knew.  That “few” has now grown into an amazing prayer group of 34 women from across the country.   This is a group of women who want to help even in the smallest way – which turns out to be the biggest way, emotionally and spiritually supporting someone they don’t even know.  Most of them have never met, some I’ve never met, but all are cyber ‘girlfriends’ to each other and those who need a little something extra to get them through the day – incredible!

Don’t take your friends for granted even though they’ll probably love you forever.  They’re soft and gushy inside and not always the rock they portray.

My heart does ache a bit as I’ve had to let some really amazing women leave my life because I felt I had failed at being the person they wanted me to be, I had let them down in all my human-ness.  I also needed to let go of some whose drama outweighed the joy.  I am blessed, though, to have learned from the lessons they left me.

So Happy Valentine’s Day and thank you my dear girlfriends for giving me that very special piece of you, like a little piece of chocolate from a heart shaped box.  Your presence in my life has been and always will be — awe-inspiring!!

Grateful for you,

Sheree


8 thoughts on “Valentine’s Day is for Girlfriends too!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.