On girlfriends, community, and cheesecake

It is a perfect Summer night in Texas and I stare at the three faces in front of me as we eat pasta salad and moan over the blueberry cheesecake in front of us.  A perfect Saturday night with my girlfriends...girls who are now women who have children of their own.

We laugh about everything as we sip our drinks. We talk about politics, parenting, body issues, and everything in between. Not all of us have children, but the ones that do regale us with stories that end in loud guffaws and tears, and I make a mental note of these things that I'm sure will keep me sane as I enter that phase of my life.

We talk into the night, relating, loving, laughing...knowing each of us is not alone in this life or journey. Sometimes it can feel like that, like we are the only ones going through a marital dryspell or infant exhaustion. But inevitably we're not, and our friends draw us back to the reality that we are in fact not alone.

I admit, I didn't want to come that night. I was moody, stressed, and might have hid under the covers if not for the promise of my friends culinary expertise (ie. that blueberry cheesecake.) It's in those weak moments that the enemy lies to us about community. You'll feel better if you stay home. You don't want to be around people. And just like that he's divided and conquered.

Sitting around that table, laughing through tears whilst being dive bombed by june bugs, I thanked God for friends that I can be silly with, for loving community, honest conversations, and of course for cheesecake, always for cheesecake.