The Girlfriend

A girlfriend is probably the only person in this world, who understands exactly what you are saying even though if you may not really be talking.

                                                                                                   Anonymous

I'm at a point in my life that I think is strange to be able to say 12 years ago I was just a new mom and to consider how I learned all that I needed to that really laid the groundwork for the kind of mother and wife I am today. In just a weekend all this came back to me. Almost like I needed to be reminded of how far I had come, how much I had learned, how different we all are now, but for the better. This also reminded me of how friends shape our lives too.

 Shiloah, Me, Sharon, and Beth

Salt Lake Temple, Utah

13 years ago I met these lovely ladies. I was divorced, pregnant, scared, newly married again, and just not sure where I belonged, or where I needed to go. Shiloah was the friend that called me one day and just talked, making me feel like I could call her back any day or night for whatever reason. I labored in Beth's kitchen with Isaac, while Curtis, her husband and another friend's husband gave me a blessing and whoever was closest pressed on my back to relieve labor pains. Sharon gave me advice and mothering. Not shown, but Hillary made me laugh at EVERY situation. Rebecca and I stayed up to all hours of the night talking about all things spiritual and challenges we face in this life and how to best handle them. 10 years later we all are in the same place at the same time. I firmly believe Heavenly Father puts us in places and with people at the times we most need them. I have yet to be in any other place in my life that I felt like I connected with so many women with common ground. 

Many kids later our lives have changed, and if anything, life has become more challenging. The kids have different needs. We have had different struggles to overcome. There have been a lot of lessons to be learned. We have matured, and I think, become more beautiful. But those connections with each other are still there.We pick up where we left off. We keep moving forward, towards better things. 

Another friend once gave me a pillow that said, "It takes a long time to grow an old friend". It does. Sometimes we have girlfriends that are only around for a short period of time, maybe to just get us through a trying time in our life. Sometimes we have girlfriends we have from childhood that continue to stay with us, through thick and thin, through everything, and you know that if they say they will be there for you, they will be there for you. 

There are so many people who would do anything to ride in the Mercedes with you. But what you really deserve is somebody who would want to board the bus along with you when the Mercedes breaks down.
Anonymous

A couple weekends ago Shiloah came from Colorado to visit and so we had a mini reunion with other friends from Texas where we had originally met. There was so much to catch up on, so much to say, we just didn't have enough time to say it all. I had missed them. Life seemed so simple back then, when I just had one baby.

4, 6, and 8 kids later we all seem so grown up. There are other things that matter, more spiritual things, more awareness that we are progressing, teaching our children, becoming more in tune to our families, husbands and children. It is good we progress like this. A little sad sometimes, I think, when we realize some choices we make hold us back, maybe aren't the best idea ever, or that sometimes we made huge leaps forward and now feel like we are taking baby steps backwards. So when those things happen, we call on our girlfriends to get us through. Sometimes I feel like I haven't always been there to support others like they needed, so caught up in our own life we forget there is a world beyond our front door, or a phone call away. Either way, it is a blessing to have such wonderful women in my life that teach me, support me, help me, and allow me to do the same for them. 

"No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever." 

                                                                Francois Mocuriac

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