This picture is low resolution but I think you can see what beautiful and amazing women my friends are. If you spent an afternoon with them, you would be even more impressed by their faith and fortitude. Last month, my friend invited this group of women to her cabin for the day. It was an inspired idea, and so much fun. We sat outside in the sun beneath the Aspen trees and took a walk to a dairy and some ponds. It was a rare, maybe once-in-many-years thing for me to do.
I didn’t hear every conversation, but we were not talking about shoes or hair. It was real life stuff. A simple comment someone made about the food sparked an idea for me about something I needed to do to help my health. I saw faith in the way each friend framed her own challenges.
I guess what I want to say today is that women need women. The life wisdom that spilled forth during these hours continues to be a point of reference for me, weeks and weeks later. I write to forge connections with whoever may read, but it isn’t the same as sitting around a picnic table in the mountains, eating salads and beautiful fruits and cheese and talking about what it takes to be alive right now.