Julia: this one's for you :)

The other day at lunch, you asked me what I talk about with my friends.  I have to admit, I was stumped by the question.  I'd never thought before about what goes back and forth between my friends and I.  So, as a result, I decided to take note.
Since I was hanging out with a couple of my good friends that night, I decided to subtly track our conversation throughout dinner and then back at their place.  We went to Cheesecake Factory (is there a 'the' in front of that?) in Bellevue, then back to their apartment on Mercer Island to play games, but I guess that's not the important part.  The significant stuff is the discourse.  I have to admit, we didn't talk about anything special.  We discussed books (specifically Ender's Game and the series of books following that storyline), we talked about traveling (our friend Danny has basically traveled the world - earlier this year he discovered a shipwrecked boat off the coast of Mexico by using Google Maps and he later drove two hours with his dad just to find it and explore the place), we talked about music, and movies, and good beer.  Oh, and we talked about our pets.  Lots of talk about our pets.  I guess that's what happens when you get five animal-lovers with no kids and very little free time together in the same room.  I'm sure five years from now we'll sound less pathetic and we'll talk more about humans than their furry counterparts, but for now I'm content with cats and dogs.
On the other hand, when I get together with just my girl friends things are totally different.  Friday night was girls and guys, so the conversation stays gender neutral.  When it's all girls, things change.  We still talk about good books, music, travel...but we also talk about girl stuff.  I think girls can uplift their female friends in a way that guys don't understand. When I was in high school I had mostly guy friends. I liked that there wasn't any drama.  However, all of my leaders and mentors would talk about how important it is to have a small group of girl friends who you're closer with than anyone else. I didn't learn how true this was until I grew up. We can talk about our bodies (and our discomforts or encouragements about them), we can talk about relationships, we can talk about our jobs, we can talk about our dreams...there's just a different sense of connection.  Even with Ben it's different. Sure, he's my husband. He's my best friend. But he's my best friend in a vastly different way than my friend Tracy is, or my friend Jackie, or Stephanie, or Michelle, or Janine...okay, these are just names to you, but they're the important people in my life.  One more: Jamie. 

My best friends: Janine, Stephanie, Michelle, Jamie, Jackie, Tracy, and my husband, Ben.

Jamie's getting married this summer.  She and I have a lot of similar fears about relationships and abandonment. She and I lived together for three years during and after college. We know more about each other than anyone else except our own spouses (probably).  We've been hurt and we've supported each other, we've fought and sworn at each other, we've laughed and cried together.  Yeah, I love my girl friends.  They're the best.  Okay, this last paragraph got a little off track, but oh well :)  THE END!