Whatever: Girlfriends

This is a post that I have started about 15 times and exists in varying states of finished in the cloud:

I have an amazing set of friends.

Girlfriends. 

Real, honest to goodness friends.

I spent a large amount of my teens and twenties

trying to find girl friends. And I would occasionally think I had found one. But then it would fall apart. Those years are your crazy years for women. The years you go insane trying to find yourself.

In my late twenties and early thirties, I found them and also, I found  me.

I have two sisters and they are my girlfriends, too.
Through them, I have always had an outlet for all my "girl" issues.

But that is different. We share DNA and therefore, even as adults, compete with each other. Usually to be the funniest, weirdest, strangest...I am not sure why we do this but it is so funny and after I  have been with them my abs hurt from laughing.

Tootsies...with my sisters.

But I digress. 

Girlfriends listen to your insecurities,

they see you as your best you and they above all, sympathize with you 

because they are/have been there.

They will hop in their car when your dog has to be put to sleep and come with you to the vet. They will come pick up your toddler so you can take a nap when you are so pregnant and exhausted you cannot even think.  Good girlfriends start a business with you
and manage to stay friends with you in spite of that fact.

 Little Piggies...circa 2004.

They spend 6 hours in the pool/in the car/in the yard talking with you about every single detail of your life, you have ever thought of living and analyze it until you are healed.
Girlfriends hang out and wear cute dresses.

Excellent dresses.

Girlfriends celebrate your ups and agonize over your lows. 

They are what we sometimes  try to turn our husbands into and what we miss the most when we move to a new town.They nourish our souls and keep us on the straight and narrow. They hold us up to God when we need help and prayers.
I have a lot to learn about being a true friend and I fall short most of the time. But as I grow as a woman, I look to those I call girlfriend to lead the way. They make me want to be better. They make me want to be like them. I count my blessings daily.

I am lucky, I have excellent girlfriends.