Glad to have the gals
Lately I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have girlfriends. Really good girlfriends.
Maybe it's because I've had a lot of good girl time lately, either hiking, canoeing the North Fork, or just hanging out and talking with my girlfriends.
When I was little, I was obsessed with the movie Beaches. It still brings me to tears when I watch it. I think it is one of the all-time best girlfriend movies.
The masses may call these kind of movies sappy chic flicks, but I thrive off them and feel like most of the female population can relate.
The relationship between the characters of Barbara Hershey and Bette Midler is classic true friendship forever. I had always wished for something like that and looking back, I have always had strong relationships with girls.
Girlfriends keep me sane. They are my glue. I'm not saying there has never been drama in my relationships with girls — that is inevitable. But a lot of that drama made me realize the ones who weren't true girlfriends.
But the true ones have been there for me in times of need, they have been there too many times to count as a shoulder to cry on, and the best part of having good girlfriends, laughing.
One of my friends recently told me she was thankful to have me as a friend because her stomach muscles were getting tighter from laughing so much. I agree.
I remember when I was little, my friend Karen and I would have laugh attacks. We would laugh so hard we would cry, for what seemed like hours. Our parents would just shake their heads and smile, thinking we were so silly.
I somehow thought that would fade as I grew and matured. But it hasn't in the least. I have a feeling it will never fade. Hope it never will.
"Good friends are like stars….You don't always see them, but you know they are always there." — Anonymous.
Throughout the years of my life I've also become aware of my true life-long friends. I have a few I haven't seen for years, but when we get back together it's like we were back in high school or college together, not a moment of time has passed between us. Although we've changed physically, mentally, emotionally and in every possible way of changing, things are still the same, things are so real.
There are a million friendship quotes that have passed through famous, infamous and anonymous people throughout the ages.
Some of my favorites are:
"A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. " — Fr. Jerome Cummings.
"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." — Aristotle.
"However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship." — La Rochefoucauld (1665).
I don't have many boyfriends, never have and don't think I ever will. It's like what they say in the movie, "When Harry Met Sally," that men and women can never truly be friends. I think I agree with that in ways, heck, they made a whole movie about it, but really it's a sad thought because I have been told by men, that they could never be my friend.
Girls can relate more to other girls, obviously. And vise-versa. I feel like girls create this amazing bond with each other that is indescribable.
I can go to my girl friends with anything. They give the best advice because they relate. I can bawl my eyes out at a sappy movie in front of them and not be embarrassed.
One of my best friends in the world and I both read the book, "The Divine Secret of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" at around the same time and then when it came out as a movie we went together to see it and left in tears and a silent understanding of our true bond.
We recently went to "The Notebook," together (another tear-jerker) and left the same way. We were crying happy tears. Tears of joy. Tears of friendship, true friendship.
"A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world. — Leo Buscaglia.
No matter if you only have one, or a million girlfriends, I think this relationship helps you realize not only how special they are, but through them you gain the ability to see yourself as others see you and you realize what a special person you are.
Lindsey Nelson is the photographer at the Whitefish Pilot.