Saturday, October 22, 2011

Topic of the Day--Gal Pals





This is my last evening in Bend. I've spent a weekend with my future daughter-in-law's (Brandi) friends and family. Her friends wanted to do something special for her upcoming wedding to my son (only eleven days away) and so they arranged a time for Brandi and friends to lounge and pamper themselves at a local spa. Last night Brandi prepared a delicious meal for my husband and I, our son Paul, and members of her family. This evening a group of friends and family shared a meal in downtown Bend, followed by more revelry.

This has been a weekend of fun, relaxation, memories, laughter and good food. Best of all of all has the company. I got to spend time with quality people and dear women who are true friends to Brandi. Friends are a special gift. But I sometimes think we take our friendships for granted and don't realize how important it is to pour time and love into one another's lives.

I witnessed healthy friendships this weekend and I was inspired by them. There was a time when my friends and I regularly got together. We were gal pals who used to shop together, go to the gym, walk, saw movies and joined for Bible study. Years passed and we became bogged down in parenting, careers, church activities and a multitude of other responsibilities. We're still friends, but sharing the celebration of sisterhood has slipped away. We rarely get together these days.

I think it's time for a change. We need each other. We need to share our joys and sorrows. We need to laugh, cry and get silly and remember life is a great big adventure to be shared.

If you feel like me and want to rebuild some of those friendships jump into the fun and share your ideas about how you're going to do that. I'd love to hear.

Maybe it's time to make a date with a gal pal.


Grace and peace to you from God.

Bonnie

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:05 PM

    Tuesday nights! Easy treats, always coffee 'n fixin's, sometimes a game or two, a time to do alllll the things you said--we are friends: sisters in the Lord! And in between Tuesdays we know our cares are being held up to the Lord by our dear friends.
    With other galpals, we meet every few months for a dinner out and laugh ourselves silly remembering 30+ yrs. of loving the Lord and each other.
    With my Wed. Bible Study we have a lunch bunch--a quick lunch together every week. Gotta keep on loving each other and practice the Biblical applications on each other over lunch!

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  2. Patti, you guys have such a great group. It's about 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive for me, but I may drop in from time to time.

    I'm working on an idea for a local group of gal pals--we're way overdue.

    Hugs.

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  3. I hadn't thought about it, but now that you mention it, I'm missing gal pal time as well. Don't know how I can switch things around these days but I can tell you two things that worked really well in the past.

    One was a book lover's open house once a mouth. We rotated houses, and the hosting house served snacks. The rest of us dropped in anytime between 7 - 10. We brought books and magazines we'd loved and wanted to share. Then we just ate and gabbed and traded books and it was very low key. We loved it so much, I don't know why we stopped!

    The other thing sounds crazy -- but it's lovely. This is for women who really can't find a spare minute in the day. About four times a year (on a Saturday) we sneak out at the crack of dawn (earlier actually) because we enjoy a sunrise service of sharing testimonies and then have breakfast together. Young mum's get home before the rest of their household is stirring, women who work can still make it there on time, the shop-til-you-droppers are first in line for the sales. LOL. It takes a bit of sacrifice to roll out of bed early but it's always worth it.

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  4. Friends are so important. About five years back my husband and I had to relocate due to his job so I don't get to see my gals as often as I used to. While I have made new friends, I have not forgotten/left behind my other gals who have seen me through some heartaches.
    I try to email/phone call once a month and every 3-6 months make a special trip to see them (and sometimes they come to visit me as well).

    BTW, a spa day sounds fabulous!!

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  5. Kav I love your gal pal ideas, especially the book lover's open house. The crack of dawn time of sharing sounds fabulous and absolutely special even though I'm so not a morning person. I might manage for something exceptional like that.

    I'm going to see if me and some of my close friends can pull something together.

    Thank you!

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  6. TC I love that you have not dropped your buddies even though you've moved far from them. Wonderful!

    I have some dear friends who live far away. We are trying to work out a get together and now hearing your testimony I'm more determined than ever to make it happen.

    And this coming weekend I'm getting away for a mini retreat with two of my writing pals. I'm so excited!

    Bless you.

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  7. Your mini retreat sounds great! I really need to find a writing group, but so far I am not having any luck. Seems I'm the only one I know who endeavors to be a writer and I am not sure how to find any groups. I live in a small town, so our library doesn't have much to offer.

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  8. TC I live in a tiny town, but there a moderate town (23,000 people) twenty miles away.

    What I did to first get connected is when I attended a writing conference I signed up for a critique group and so did some others from my area. We connected and grew to about seven of us.

    You can check with your library or a nearby college or even run an ad in the paper or on Craig's list. If you're a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) you can connect with critique groups there. They may be online groups, but that's what I'm part of now and it's working out very well--those are the ladies I'm getting together with this weekend.

    Keep looking and don't give up. And make sure to attend writing seminars and conferences. You will connect there, I promise you.

    Let me know how it goes for you.

    Grace and peace to you.

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  9. This is a good reminder for me right now. I'm in the stage where I'm home with my girl all day, and my friends are home with their kids and it takes a lot of effort to get out and spend time together. But we've gotta start doing more.

    I'm going to email them all today and see about going out to dinner soon.

    Thanks for the reminder and encouragement:)
    love
    Kristen

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  10. Thank you for the advice, I will check into some of those resources! I'm hoping in the next year to go to a conference, it's just not possible sooner than that.

    Thanks again and have a wonderful time this weekend!

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  11. Yay, Kristen! We need each other. I remember when my first little one arrived, my husband watched him two nights a week so I could go out with my friends.

    One evening was Bible study and the other night was whatever . . . sometimes the gym or sometimes just visiting or shopping.

    It was such a help to me--I was a better mother and wife and healthier in general.

    I can't wait to hear about your dinner out with the gals.

    Bless you.

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  12. TC. So glad I could be of help.

    Happy writing.

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