To My Girls

Written By: Kimberly Crickette

Friendship seems to be one of the cornerstones of our experience as humans; our ability to form deep, vulnerable bonds with others is a quality that not many other creatures on this planet possess. And female friendship, specifically, is one of the most powerful, cozy and life-giving things you can be a part of.

I've known my three best, most cherished friends for ten years now. We met at the very beginning of high school. Our friendship has not always looked the same as it does now -- hormones, health struggles, shifting interests, breakups, adulthood demanding to be faced...it's been tough at times for the four of us. But even though we've lived across the country from each other for almost six years now, I know our bond has never been stronger. And that's because of the way that we show up for each other in our lives. 

We schedule trips to visit each other months and months in advance; we have a group chat that takes up at least 90% of my phone's storage space; we ask each other tough questions; and first and foremost, we want the absolute best and nothing short of it for each other. Last year, we even all got a tattoo of "1/4" to symbolize our friendship. It's no wonder, really, that when the female brain is under significant stress it pushes us to seek out other female friends by flooding our brains with oxytocin.

When it boils down to it, I think that the qualities that make a wonderful friend are the same qualities that make a successful kindergartner: honesty, curiosity, empathy and excitement. Sometimes friendship has meant picking up my phone in the middle of the night and crying together. Sometimes it has meant a nineteen hour road trip in the world's smallest and most weighed-down car. And sometimes it has meant falling asleep over Facetime while debating the tragedy of bad botox in whatever guilty pleasure show we're obsessing over at the moment. 

Friends are the people who will take on and carry half of our pain, double our laughter, and lean against us during life's commercial breaks. They're the glitter that make life exciting AND the glue that holds it together when it feels like life is falling apart at the seams. There's nothing else quite like them. 

To my girls: I love you. For the good, the bad, and the funny. Always and forever.