Let's Hear It For The Girls

This one treats my mom like gold.

These ones are why my husband turned out so nice.


These ones knew me back when skinny jeans were in the first time.

This one has never forgotten my birthday.

This one watches all my same TV shows and likes all my same shopping haunts.

The one on the left turned my brother into a civilized human being.

If I die, either one of these two can raise my kids.

This one will tell you if you have one hairstyle coming but a different hairstyle going.

These two have gone on so many early morning runs with me that I'm starting to feel a little guilty about it.

The blond one loves my brother so much it makes my heart hurt a little just thinking about it.

Ask one of these ladies how to cook a decent roast or make good gravy.

One of my favorite things about my life is the women in it. Don't get me wrong: I like guys. My husband in particular. But my life would not be the same without women. I've been on watch the past few months and the evidence is everywhere that my life is constantly enriched by the women I'm surrounded by.
I used to be one of those people who said, "Oh, girls are so petty!" (Or so shallow, or such gossips, or whatever). I tried to tell myself that guys made better friends. They don't, for the record. At some point in my life, my attitude about my fellow women was changed for the better, and this I can state with certainty: Women aren't petty. Women aren't shallow. Women aren't gossips. (Okay, maybe a few are, but no more than men and they are all ruining it for the rest of us.) I worked at Victoria's Secret for nearly a decade, and I think I might reasonably argue that if anything would attract pettiness, gossip, and the most shallow among us it would be the bright pink lights of a Victoria's Secret sign. Only it didn't. I spent that ten years surrounded by some of the brightest and best women you'd ever care to meet. (In fact, that's all the evidence I need to assert that if you are among those women who are still talking trash about the rest of us I can guarantee you that the problem isn't "Women." The problem is you.)
It didn't start there of course: I've always had my sister and my mom. My sister is...I just don't even have the words other than to say that she's been what I needed my whole life: She's been a word of encouragement, a kick in the pants, the giver of excellent advice, and the person who I can call merely to report that I lost a pound or that I tried a good recipe and she doesn't even care that I seriously call almost every damn day. My sister circle has been expanded now with my sister-in-laws and my bonus sisters and I am grateful every day that I have these incredible women at my beck and call.
But I think the light really started to go on for me in college. I might rhapsodize all day about the women I lived with during the college years, but suffice it to say that they opened my eyes to what I might become. We're still friends now, and they are still an example to me about what I'd might become.
I could go on and on...I've got my neighborhood moms, my running ladies, my dear ones I served in the Primary with (We were released Sunday...it's bittersweet.), my cousins, my piano moms, my gym friend, my church ladies, my foodies...I feel so lucky. These women surround me with support and love and friendship and I just have to say it: You ladies are the best.