A Woman's Hidden Strength - Her Girlfriends

Thank God for our girlfriends. They keep us sane. They listen to us talk about whatever’s on our mind, over and over and over again. They console us when we cry, agree with us when we’re pissed, come over and hang out with us so that we don’t lay around on the couch all day. They remind us of all the shit we’ve gone through and remind us that we’ll get through this too. They tell us how beautiful we are, even though we don’t feel very beautiful with puffy eyes and mascara streaks on our face. They make us go out and socialize.

I don’t have an exact count of the number of times I’ve cried with my girlfriends after they’ve been hurt by a man. I can’t say how many times I’ve been there when they swore they wouldn’t go back to him, only to melt when he’s called. So many times I’ve encouraged my girls, stood by my girls, listened to my girls, made them laugh, cried with them, hoped with them that maybe this time it’ll be different. I was their strength, I was their back bone, I was their cheerleader, I was their voice of reason.

And they have all been the same for me. When I’ve said “I’m done”, they’re right there saying “you go girl”. When I’ve said “I can’t do it, it hurts too bad”, they’re right there saying “don’t give up”. When I’ve said “we’re trying again”, they’re right there saying “it’ll work out this time”. And when I’ve said “no more, I can’t go back, help me stay away”, they’re right there saying “we’ll get you through this”.

You think when you’re in your 30’s and you have your career and you have your kids and you know who you are that your relationships will get easier and you won’t need your girls like you did when you were a teenager. The thing is, you may have your career all figured out and you may have the whole parenting thing under control and you may even have figured out what makes you, you, but the romantic relationships get harder and the heartbreak seems to hurt worse. If anything, my girls and I have needed each other more now than we did in high school.

So, to my girls, thank you.