You form all kinds of friendships over the course of a lifetime. There is the default sister-friend that you shared a bathroom with and who stole your clothes. There is your oldest friend who toddled next to you in diapers and knows all of your secrets. There is the church friend who has prayed alongside you and encourages your faith. There is the college friend who watched you do some things you probably shouldn’t have and still let you sleep in her bed. I have had the pleasure of knowing so many of these amazing friends over the last thirty-five years.
As luck (or divine intervention) would have it, some of the most important friendships in my life are by chance. I find myself part of this group of girls that might not otherwise have crossed paths. My sister, who as hard as I fought it growing up, is one of my very best friends. Wives of my husband’s childhood friends. A neighbor. My sister-in-law. A dear friend that I met thanks to the internet. THE INTERNET. Isn’t it crazy that making friends like that is even possible? It’s like six degrees of separation or something, because everyone knows someone else’s brother or sister or friend.
As I quickly approach my birthday, I can’t help but think of how my life has been changed by these girls. We stand in solidarity when our sister is hurting. We pray when her life suddenly takes an unexpected turn. We celebrate holidays together and teach each other and learn from each other. I am so blessed to call them my own. We have struggled over the last couple of months to come together in any regular fashion for Bible study. Because, children. We are at football practice or dance rehearsal or at home soothing teething babies. But we try and that is maybe the most important thing. We try to spend time together because we always feel recharged and refreshed afterwards and these girls know just what to say at the moment when I run out of words.
We went to the mountains together this past weekend. No children or husbands, no Bible study literature, just loads of luggage and some really funny stories.
We were, of course, an hour late leaving on Thursday night and then we spent a few more hours eating dinner together and laughing when the waitress brought us this napkin. I didn’t really think the photo through when I shared it on Instagram, so I’m hoping that Mike didn’t get too many late-night telephone calls from our husbands. We were so late getting to our cabin that night and got turned around more than a few times before realizing we had been driving past our rental for half an hour. It was after midnight and we were exhausted and swore we were going straight to bed, but we sat by the fire for hours and talked in the bed long after that.
After waking up to snowflakes, we decided to fill up on breakfast and run out for groceries and supplies (fuzzy slippers, anyone?) in case the weather got worse. We walked around town for a few hours, rode a mountainside roller coaster {click here to see} and decided on appetizers for a late lunch. All eight of us ordered something different from the menu and we shared. Best. Decision. Ever.
After Beth took that photo of us on the street, we decided that to “Stop, Drop & Selfie” was a necessary thing at almost every place we went. I’m sure we held up traffic more than a few times, but these pictures are priceless. I can’t look at them without remembering exactly what we were talking about to cause those smiles.
Jen decided this flat-billed hat should be documented, so we all joined in with our favorites from the gift shop. There might also have been “honeymooning in Gatlinburg” t-shirts that were abused. I expected to be yelled at by the management at any moment.
On Saturday morning we started off slow, with breakfast by the fire and GameDay on the television. We all happen to be Alabama football fans, so there were no hurt feelings or rivalries among us. We cheered together all day long. We had lunch at a ridiculous restaurant and I’m sorry that my hat/sign wasn’t as funny as some of the others. It was cringe-worthy, so we’ll just blur it for the sake of your eyes. I couldn’t resist the photo, though, because this face pretty much expresses my feelings exactly.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in our pajamas, cheering on the Tide and went only a little bit crazy when we pulled of that win. I’m not sure if eight girls have ever danced that hard in response to a football victory. I also can’t begin to count the times the following conversation was had:
ME: You remember that time we beat Mississippi State?!
FRIEND: You mean that time they were number one? Yes!
It may have taken eight hours to get home Sunday afternoon and some serious virtual Tetris skills to get that luggage back in the trunk, but despite the rain and the traffic and the over-eating, I had the best day. The group text message hasn’t stopped quite yet and the photographs on my phone make me laugh out loud every single time I scroll through them.
I’m not sure it’s acceptable to wait twelve full months to do that again and I promise next time I’ll wear pants. Pretend you’re a camper, friends.
