girlfriends

Girlfriends are so awesome.

I went to lunch yesterday at Finn's (a local Scandinavian cafe) with a girl who became my friend in jr high.  We had omelets (hers was shrimp, capers, and havarti--mine was tomatoes, green onion, cheddar, avocado, and bacon) and I think we agreed they were the best omelets ever.  And the omelets came with exactly the right amount of perfectly cooked hash browns.

Finn's was a delight as always.  It isn't just that the food is tasty and pretty.  It's the feeling of the place that I like so much.  I've been there a couple of times in the past few years with my mom because she likes the food.  And it's the place my parents ate at the night before I was born.  So there's that.

I maybe haven't always appreciated the value of girlfriends.  Growing up without sisters, I always thought the point of friendship was to just be nice and happy all of the time and then people would like you and want to be around you.  I don't think I realized there might be a different way to interact with people until Jessie went to college.  Getting to see her and watch the interactions between her roommates helped me understand that relationships might be more complex than I'd thought.

Seeing my friend yesterday reminded me again of the value of girlfriends.  The thing is, we hadn't seen each other for maybe over a year, but that didn't matter.  We picked up where we left off as though we'd talked just last Tuesday instead of the spring before last. 

We've known each other for a long time and we've watched each other go through all kinds of life experiences.  It always feels so good to talk, listen, care, and laugh and get all of that in return.

All of that--and bacon!  Must do this again soon.