Here's what I'm thankful for today:
None of us are perfect. In fact, over the course of the past 14 years, ages 18-32, I think I've probably been the farthest thing from perfect as I've grown and changed and learned and adapted. Change in any form comes with quite a few stumbles, but especially the kind of change that happens during your 20s. And in those years, chock full of all the milestones in a young adult's life, was a particular group of friends who have been there with me through it all. We've experienced college together as roommates and sisters and friends. We've waited up for each other after first dates, walked home arm in arm at 2am after late nights, woke each other up at 6:30am to go and wait tables. We graduated together, lived together after college, said things like "I think he's the one," as we met our future husbands, were the first ones in the hospital room after those first babies, the list goes on.
So as we ran around our old stomping grounds the other weekend, dancing all night and talking until the wee hours of the morning, I kept thinking about that feeling you get when you're with family. You can say anything, be anything, do anything, and you are safe and loved. You can be you. That's what these friendships are for me- a circle of unconditional love that is a constant. There's something special that happens when a friend has seen it all- there's a vulnerability there, a trust that's built, and over time it simply gets woven into the fabric of the years. And how lucky I feel to have these women in my life. I shout it to the rooftops often, I know. But to me, life is way too short to not recognize and celebrate every bit of good.
Together we've been through peaks and the valleys of life, and more so, the natural ebb and flow of our friendships. And now at 32 I look around at these girls and we are all so, so different. But in many ways, we are still the same girls we once were. Bits and pieces of us have changed, but just like old married couples that still see their partner as the young person they fell in love with, I'm sure in my mind these five women will always remain 21 years old and smiling on the dance floor, twirling and laughing...and laughing some more.
