Vida. Risa. Amor.

My visit with my friends in North Carolina was so chillax.  (I wanted to use this word I heard Lanie say to me today and I'm not sure I can quite pull it off)...but what I'm trying to say is that it was so nice to just chill.  And relax.

The best part of my trip wasn't just that I got to hang with my chica's...but it was also the perfect escape from any kind of plan, agenda, or schedule that comes with all the non-stop busyness of our hood...(the mother-hood).  ;)

A girls getaway was just what I needed....my soul just needed to be around a bunch of really good Mom's...Sweet.  Encouraging.  Godly.  Honest.  Twizzler-loving and Real.

Instead of a hotel, we all actually stayed in my friend's Mom's house....so it kind of felt like a flash back to our highschool sleepover days.  Her mom has a cheerful and welcoming spirit; she loves to laugh and smile when she's talking to you, and for years she has reminded me of Snow White.  Not only did she cook us some delicious white chicken chili, but one of the first things she said when we arrived was that she wanted us to be as comfortable as possible and to make ourselves at home.  She already had my day made when I saw their fridge stocked with Cherry Coke Zero!  And when we went to see where we'd be sleeping, she had put together a cute little "goody" basket in our room overflowing with valentine candy, granola bars, and snacks!!

And so I got to thinking, (I just can't help it), there were a lot of my friends Mom's that have influenced me over the years, in lots of different little ways.  Each Mom had their own style from their cooking, music, clothes, birthday parties, home decorating, hair-styles, cleaning, fashion, driving speed....

And I got to thinking some more....my kids have a lot of friends they bring over here and what will they remember me for?  My pot roast and grilled cheese sandwiches?

It's humbling to know there are other people's kids observing me.  I just hope that when they think back on me someday that they would remember me  from the days when I was in a good mood, and that I wasn't permanently attached to my vacuum cleaner.

I hope they would remember that my door was always open for them, and that they could just come over and chillax.

With all the busyness that January brought this month, I haven't had much time to think about the fact that in just two days I will be on a plane headed for North Carolina to see my three favorite friends!  I have known these girls since training bras, tretorn shoes, aqua-net, and braces....hard to believe that was about 25 years ago!  Growing up together in a small town in the midwest, we've been through church camps, sleep-overs, tee-pee wars, boy crushes, drives to Carlos Sweeneys for chips and salsa in "the flea", rap music, and tubing with snakes until sunset down a neighborhood creek.  (Ofcourse I can't forget the most important....each other's closets!)

So even though now we're all hundreds of miles away from each other in different parts of the country, and all in our "mid" thirties with kids of our own now, (15 altogether between the 4 of us!)...when we are together we are still the same group that just loves to laugh our heads off and just be girls.


I can't imagine what life would life would be like without just one good friend, and I'm realizing it's rare to keep friends this long...even three of them! 

...So I think it's safe to say by now they're my friends for life.