Funny where girlfriends are found. Neighbors, fellow volunteers, women who share hobbies, in the grocery store … there are countless places to find new friends. And that’s a great thing! I’ve met lots of girlfriends through Twitter and social media groups/sites. One I met recently, Mary, gets the girlfriend thing and wrote the following guest blog about her girlfriends.

For the Love of Girlfriends, by Mary

Today’s Monday Magazine Motivation comes from the October issue of Redbook. An article entitled, “Friends for Life” caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but flip to the page. I have fabulous girlfriends whom I love dearly, and I can’t believe I haven’t talked about them much here on my blog.

Let’s start with Mandy.  She’s been my friend since 1991 when I really had a chance to chat with her at her boyfriend’s/my friend’s high school graduation party. Wow, did I just give away my age there? Yeah, I’m 35. Anyway, she and I just hit it off. We were, as they say, inseparable for the whole next year. We remained friends when she left town for college but lost touch a few years later after she married and moved to Texas. Thankfully, we reconnected. She’s been

there for me through so much.  And I truly believe there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for me. I know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Here we are at my wedding, where she was my matron of honor.

I have another group of friends I’d like to give a shout out to – my scrapbooking buddies, Brandy, Julie, Laura, Hollie, and Kim (not pictured). These are a group of women I used to work with, and every week we’d faithfully get together to scrapbook. We saw each other individually throughout the week, but it was those times as a group that we really bonded and were able to vent about our frustrations and confide our troubles to each other. We no longer work at the same place, and geographic separation has made it hard to get together. But I still consider these ladies to be some of my closest friends. Here we are.

There are other friends I’m neglecting to mention here, but I wanted to be sure to take some time to recognize my closest ones.  My blog has led me to many online friends as well, and I believe you all know who you are.  I am grateful for my “real-life friends” as well as my online friends for their support and encouragement.  I need to set some time aside to spend with my girlfriends because they bring out the best in me and because it’s therapeutic.

Have you neglected girlfriend time lately, too?  I recommend heading on over to Girlfriendology, a site dedicated to “inspiration, appreciation, and celebration” of female friendships.  You’ll find contests to inspire you to get together with your girlfriends for a little fun, gifts for the special women friends in your life, and tons of information from the “Girlfriend Gurus” on every subject. So head on over for some inspiration on celebrating the most important of friendships!

Who are the girlfriends in your life who make your day just be a phone call or email? Which friends are there for you no matter what?

Share your thought on ‘the love of girlfriends’ below. And thanks Mary. You’re a great girlfriend!

Technorati tags: girlfriendology love guest+blog friendship

Tags: Everyday Baby Steps, friendship, girlfriend stories, High School, Participants in wedding ceremonies, Redbook, twitter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.