Yesterday Miss 7 had one of her best friends over to play. The two girls first met when they were both six months old and starting day care.
Both girls now go to different schools but as we have become friends with her parents, they do see each other periodically. Every few months or so, the girls get together for a play date and you know, they never cease to amaze me in the way that they are so comfortable with each other. Time or lack of quantity time together does not forego their opportunity to just enjoy being around each other when they can. They play, they chat, they eat, they laugh.....in fact, they fit together like a pair of gloves - so incredibly well!
Watching them together, I can't help wonder what the future will bring. Will they remain friends and always have this comfortable arrangement; as they grow older will they become closer or drift apart? One thing is certain.....they now have the foundations of a beautiful life-long friendship and an appreciation of the importance of having girl friends in your life.
This thought has led me to reflect on my own 'girl' friendships. It's only in relatively recent years that I've become close to girl friends - once I joined the 'mother' club as well as meeting friends through work and through wonderful on-line internet groups. And I now realise that girl friendships are incredibly special. I remember watching Oprah once and she spoke of the importance of girl friendships and the fact that women look after the emotional needs of women (or something along those lines). It was very profound, and the older I get the more I realise that it is very true. It is my girl friends who help me when I am feeling down. They are the ones who nod in agreement with true understanding when I pour out all of the issues that seem to be drowning my life away. They are the ones who offer the emotional support that no one else seems to be able to do. They celebrate my successes and have an understanding of what it took to achieve them. In fact, without some of my amazing friends, I realise that I wouldn't be coping nearly as well as I am today.
This, of course, is not to disregard the impact or assistance that the men and/or family members have had on my life. But there is something special about getting together with your besties over coffee or on the telephone - even via the computer - and pouring out all the issues of life, love and family.
So I hope that my daughter will have all that and more in the friendships that she develops throughout her life. With them, I know that she will have a richness of friendships that will enable her to be the strong woman that I know she has the potential to be.
