"Don't Forget Your Girlfriends"

I sat on a summer day, drinking iced tea and visiting with my mother.
"Don't forget your girlfriends," Mother advised, clinking the ice cubes in her glass.
No matter how much you love your husband, you are still going to need girlfriends.
Remember to go places with them now and then;
and do things with them, even when you don't necessarily want to.
And remember that girlfriends are not only friends, but sisters, daughters, mothers, grandmothers and other relatives too.
Women supporting and relating to other women is our responsibility and our gift.
"What a funny piece of advice," I thought.
"Hadn't Ijust gotten married?
Hadn't I just joined the couple-world?
I was now a married woman, for goodness sake, not some young girl who needed friends!"
But I listened to my Mom. I kept in contact with my girlfriends and even found some
new ones along the way. As the years tumbled by, one after another, I gradually came to understand that Mom really knew what she was talking about!
Here is what I know:
Girl friends bring casseroles and scrub your bathroom when you need help;
Girlfriends keep your children and your secrets.
Girlfriends give advice when you ask, sometimes you take it and sometimes you don't.
Girlfriends don't always tell you you're right, but they usually tell the truth.
Girlfriends still love you, even when they disagree with your choices.
Girlfriends laugh with you and don't need canned jokes to start the laughter.
Girlfriends pull you out of jams.
Girlfriends don't keep a calendar of who hosted the other's last big party.
Girlfriends will celebrate for your son or daughter when they get married or have a baby, in whichever order that happens.
Girlfriends are there for you in an instant, and when the hard times come.
Girlfriends will drive through blizzards, rainstorms, hail, heat, and gloom of night to get to you when your hour of need is desperate.
Girlfriends listen when you lose a job or a friend.
Girlfriends listen when your children break your heart.
Girlfriends listen when your parents' minds and bodies fail.
Girlfriends cry with you when someone you loved dies.
Girlfriends support you when the men in your life let you down.
Girlfriends help you pick up the pieces when men pack up and go.
Girlfriends rejoice at what makes you happy, and are ready to go out and kill what makes you unhappy.
Times passes. Life happens. Distance separates. Children grow up.
Marriages fail. Love waxes and wanes. Hearts break. Careers end.
Jobs come and go. Parents die. Colleagues forget favors.
Men don't call when they say they will.
But girlfriends are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you.
A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach.
When you have to walk that lonesome valley, and you have to walk it for yourself, your girlfriends will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you. Or come in and carry you out. My daughters, sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, nieces, cousins, extended family,
and friends bless my life.
The world wouldn't be the same without them, and neither would I. When we began this adventure called womanhood, we had no idea of the incredible joys or sorrows that lay ahead, nor did we know how much we would need each other.
Every day, we need each other still.