For over a year now, I have been part of a “women’s group”, comprising a bunch of absolutely terrific women, some of whom I have known since college, and others I have met more recently. We call it “girl group”. We meet once a month, we have wine (last night we had martinis), we eat, and we talk. It is not chit-chat, it is not small talk…it is also important to us not to splinter off into 5 different conversations. It’s not a party. We go around the circle and share what has been going on with us for the past month. My girl group is one of the things I thank God for. Literally.
I had Girl Group last night. We met at Maria’s. We had beef stew. Martinis. We talked. We roared with laughter. Liz, my marathon-running friend, is part of the Girl Group…and secretly, we ordered a piece of Tiffany glass, in the shape of an apple, with the words “New York Marathon” on it, which we are going to have engraved with Liz’s name and her running time (5 hours, 2 minutes, and 10 seconds.) It was Jill’s idea. Liz was in the middle of regaling us with her marathon tale, when Maria and I glanced at one another, nodded curtly, and then Maria got up, left the table, and came back with the blue Tiffany box for Liz. Liz was completely taken by surprise…She hadn’t even opened it yet, before the tears started coming. I have tears in my eyes right now. It was such a beautiful and moving moment: of love, and acknowledgement, and friendship. She had accomplished something extraordinary. We, as the Girl Group in her life, had been with her throughout her grueling training process. She completely broke down…her head in her hands…weeping. “Oh my God, you guys….WHY? Why?”
We all were weeping and applauding. When she opened it, more tears came, for all of us. Liz was joking about wearing the heavy thing around her neck, as a necklace, on a daily basis.
I’m still high from last night. The Girl Group is exhilarating. We all have such different lives, yet our conversations end up being (of course) universal. It’s the beauty of humanity. It does not matter what separates us. Our love for one another is above all of that.
So…to acknowledge these women …here are the names of the Girl Group goddesses: Liz, Wendy, Kerry, Janine, Jill, Brooke, Diane, Maria.
