the dreaded phone call

last night i received a phone call that i have been hoping would never come. my good friend, leslie is unresponsive in an icu in california after years and years of battling cancer. what started as a small melanoma spread to her lymph nodes, the tissue around her breast, tumors to her brain. she has done amazingly well fighting this horrible disease and we have seen so many times when she was improving. she has been covered in love and prayers and now we have to trust that God has her life in his hands.

as i was sitting last night thinking about her life, so many things came to mind. you may be thinking, "is she going to go into a diatribe about wearing sunscreen?", "is this going to be a cancer prevention blog?" while those things are important, those things didn't stand out to me as i was thinking about leslie. different things came to mind.

that girl knew how to have a good time. i have hundreds of memories with her...laughing, crying, but generally just having an amazing time together. we took an adult beginner's tap dancing class together. seriously, i've never laughed so hard in all my life! there is nothing like watching grown-ups try to learn new tricks and all of a sudden try to gain coordination that wasn't there before. i now know why my parents never signed me up for dance classes as a child. grace is not my thing.

there were countless coffees, dinners out, shopping trips, girl trips to hawaii or to see a broadway show. she is a great friend and i am so glad that i poured myself and my time into someone as wonderful as she. so, here's my sobering word to the wise this morning: take time for girlfriends. i get it. i have four kids i'm chasing around all the time. i know how hard it is to brush your teeth some days, let alone spend time with friends. i know that a dinner out means cutting back on what you feed your family when you're eating in. still, it is so very important.

good girlfriends are magical. they can tell you that certain pants make your butt look big in ways that your husband never should. they can make you laugh when you think you're losing your mind because they have been there before. they can take your mind off of all the normal details of your day by giving a listening ear or sharing a story that puts your day to shame. they can share your life in ways that your husband alone never could.

how about you? do you have a girlfriend you need to call today? do you have a life you need to invest in? i know, it won't be easy; something in your home will fall through the cracks. still, you won't regret taking time for yourself to be with your girlfriends. with leslie, i don't regret a minute or a dime i spent with her. while my heart aches to think of this world without her, i am blessed to have a mind full of the memories of her...and of our friendship together.