Every other year or so, my amazing girlfriends from childhood come to Florida for a long weekend in the middle of their snowy Pennsylvania winter. Usually, they are tired of the cold, gray, and snow by February. Therefore, they ask if I am in town and book a flight. Sometimes My Prince is town to take us on the boat; sometimes he is not. Either way, it’s a weekend full of the beach, booze, and besties.
I have known these three beautiful ladies since kindergarten. We have gone through everything together, including puberty, first dances, first kisses, and first loves. We have gone through heartbreak, loss, disappointment, and death. And our friendship is still as strong as ever.
Their visit was a last-minute trip. They called and said, “Are you in town in two weeks?” It happened to be the one weekend I was in town, so of course, I said, “YES!!” I was so excited they were coming, and I couldn’t wait for the beach, some booze, and my besties. My hubby had to work; therefore, we decided to make it a girls’ weekend. One of these days, we will get the boys down here, too.
What was so wonderful about the weekend was that we all know each other so well. There was no pressure to do anything or be anywhere. We hung by the pool and played cards (euchre). We talked about how we learned to play euchre in middle school from older men who were not even in high school anymore. At the time, we didn’t think anything of it. Now, I couldn’t imagine my seventh-grade niece hanging with a bunch of guys in their 20s. Why did our parents let us do that? In the end, it was innocent, harmless, and a lot of fun. I think because our town is small, our parents knew them. And all the men knew my grandfather would put a hurting on anyone who did anything to his granddaughter. Plus, I had the key to the gym, and if they wanted to play basketball, they needed to let me play, so I knew them all anyway.
The weekend of beach, booze, and besties, we played several games of euchre, taking turns with different partners. My girlfriend, Dani, was the master of the game, and whoever was her partner was on the winning team. We drank a few drinks and even pulled out the shot ski. We had so much fun reminiscing that we laughed until we cried.
I love being around these ladies and enjoyed spending a whole weekend with them. It felt like home. It reminds me of the sleepovers we had as kids, although we didn’t eat ice cream with Doritos for breakfast this time (maybe next year:)). Even though we are all different and have gone down unique paths, what holds us together is the bond we formed when we were younger. We love and respect each other. We value each other’s opinions. We want to continue growing in our knowledge of the world and our friendship. We genuinely care about each other’s happiness and well-being. And of course, we love the beach, booze, and being besties.
We don’t have to talk every day or even every week. A text here and there when we miss each other or see something funny is perfect. We get together when we can, we cherish the memories, and we are sad when the weekend comes to an end.
I hope that you have friends in your life who make your heart happy. I hope that those friendships are easy and fulfilling. I hope that you never take your friendships for granted. And I hope our friends know they can reach out to us anytime and say, “Are you in town? Are you ready for some beach, booze, and besties?”