After surviving some pretty brutal Jr. High years as a teenage girl, I was solidly convinced that friendships with girls were just about impossible. I truly thought that girls could only be mean to each other and that was the way it was. I thought girls were untrustworthy, spiteful, and would stab you in the back when given any chance. The worst part of it was that I was actually one of those girls, too - it seemed like the only way to survive. I cringe when I look back on those friendships.
Over the years, though, I have gradually started to see that it does not have to be like that. I feel so blessed when I look at the women in my life now, and I'm amazed to see how many I really trust, knowing that they are not going to turn on me. There is something very wonderful about being able to relax and be yourself with someone, and I now have a great group of friends who let me just be me.
These days I am feeling so thankful for my 'mom friends'. I have several close friends who also stay home with their kids, and I'm pretty sure they keep me from going insane. There have been so many days when I've just needed to get out of the house, and one of my friends has called me up and asked if we want to come over, or go and do something. I really don't know what I would do without them!
And then there's the advice...this mom thing can be hard, confusing, and frustrating, and most of the time I don't know what I'm doing! So it is wonderful to have many women who can give me ideas of things to try, or who can share what they did that worked. It helps so much to have lots of different ideas so that I can keep trying things until I find something that works for us. It is so good to not feel alone.
I help out with our youth group, and sometimes I see the way Jr. High and Sr. High girls interact with each other, and I just want to shake them and say....it doesn't have to be like this. You can have real friendships, be kind to each other, trust each other, and have lots of fun together along the way. I am so glad to have found this out and I hope I can show them what it's like to have real friendships, and to show them that it is possible. I am so thankful for my friends!
5 comments:
I'm thankful for your friendship too! Thank you for being a great friend to me! Love you!
Mom friends are the best! Thank YOU for being one of those to me!!! :)
I totally get this... big time. I always felt kind of like I was "an outsider" in high school and struggled to have close friendships.
Now - it is SO incredibly refreshing to have close friends I can be real with and who help keep me accountable!
I am very thankful for YOU!
I completely agree! I was so happy to get away from the drama of middle and high school girlfriends that I only kept one close girl friend after that. It's been so nice to have other mom friends now who really get it and you can be close with!
Hmm, I hope that doesn't really sum up what our relationship was :( Glad you found a great group thesedays!
Melissa
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