Get Yourself Some Girlfriends

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

I ran across this years ago on the internet. I have no idea who first wrote it, and an internet search did not yield immediate results about the original author. It has been shared many times, on many blogs, and I believe that it’s because the words ring so true.

I’d like to add that I value my girlfriends more than I can express in mere words. You know who you are. You are my rocks; my soul sisters; the sisters of my heart. I love you all.

Here’s the story, as written by someone else:

Young and newly married, I relaxed under a pecan tree on a hot Texas summer day, drinking iced tea and getting to know my new sister-in-law, Estelle. Not much older than I, but already the mother of three, Estelle seemed to me experienced and wise. “Get yourself some girlfriends” she advised, clinking the ice cubes in her glass. “You are going to need girlfriends. Go places with them; do things with them.”

What a funny piece of advice, I thought. Hadn’t I just gotten married? Hadn’t I just joined the couple-world? I was a married woman, for goodness sake, not a young girl who needed girlfriends.

But I listened to this new sister-in-law. I got myself some girlfriends. As the years tumbled by, one after another, gradually I came to understand that Estelle knew what she was talking about. I remembered that she had said the word girlfriends with emphasis. As I went along, I discovered the subtle difference between friends and girlfriends.

You go to work with friends, go to dinner with friends, go to church with friends, belong to clubs with friends. You send friends greeting cards. You need friends in your life; all girlfriends were once only friends. But a girlfriend is different. I offer this praise of girlfriends. Here is what I know about girlfriends:

• Girlfriends don’t compete.
• Girlfriends bring casseroles and scrub your bathroom when you are sick.
• Girlfriends keep your children, and keep your secrets.
• Girlfriends give advice when you ask for it. Sometimes you take it, sometimes you don’t.
• Girlfriends don’t always tell you that you’re right, but they’re always honest.
• Girlfriends still love you, even when they…