Girls Weekend

For my birthday this year, Luke and my special girlfriends organised a girls weekend away.  I felt so special and so loved.  We had an apartment in St Kilda and spent the late afternoon and evening drinking cosmopolitans, playing games and answering conversational card starters.  We had so much fun.  The photograph below was taken later on in the afternoon after many alcoholic beverages - obviously!

Below is one the chief organisers - my very special girl pal, Al.  I'm in the process of organising her Hens Night - so I better do just as good a job, if not better.  Al is the queen of organisation.

Below are the girls - except my British sister, El, who is taking the photograph, and my sister-in-law Narelle, who turned up later in the evening.  From left: Brooke K, Jo, Tanya, Al and me.  So now, if I ever talk about them on my blog, you can put a name to their face.

There is nothing like girlfriends.  They keep me very grounded.  And they keep 'me' very 'me'.  I shall explain this concept - when I became a mother I felt my world was entirely wrapped in the survival mode of being a mother.  I had few friends who had children in the same age bracket, except Jo, and I was desperately holding onto my past freedoms.  The time spent away from my daughter with my girlfriends wasn't about babies, but it was purely about 'me'.

Every single one of them has been there for me through one of my toughest personal journeys.  They have held my hand, cuddled me and wiped the tears from my face.  They have kept me sane.  They have made me feel entirely normal, yet allowed me to feel entirely not normal.  For them, I am entirely grateful.