Girls weekend

Hello readers,

How are you all doing on this amazing Monday afternoon? How was your weekend? You know I’d love to hear from you, so shoot me a text or drop me a comment. Oh, and please don’t forget, subscribe so you never miss an upload.

I can’t believe the weekend went by so fast. I had an amazing time. You might have a hard time believing this, but, this was my first ever all ladies weekend getaway. I’ve never done an all girls trip. Ten of us ladies from the lake went on Royal Caribbean’s, Navigator of the Seas. We cruised to Ensenada and back to San Pedro. Perfect getaway with incredible women.

We left on Friday morning and set sail around 4:30 in the afternoon. Our first night on board, we enjoyed dinner together and then we headed to a show. We started the cruise off right. During dinner in the dining room Neil Diamond’s, Sweet Caroline was being played. The ten of us, of course had to join in on the song. The music would stop so the audience could chime in during the “so good, so good, so good.” The ten of us laughed and laughed as we sung at the top of our lungs, “so good, so good, so good.”

I knew at that moment, our cruise was going to be the best. I knew that I was amongst some fun and amazing ladies. Some of us were strangers when we boarded and by the time we disembarked, we left as lifelong friends.

You learn a lot about others and yourself when you travel in a group. Most of us knew everyone, but for myself, there were a couple of women I knew, but not real well. One woman in our group, Nyla, well, I knew who she was, but I never had spent any time really talking with and getting to know her. She’s a tad older then me, and she is such a hoot. She rocks her dark pink hair and her prim and properness. She is a easy to talk with and she’s got a heart of gold. Sitting with her and talking, I felt blessed to be able to have conversations and learn who this amazing soul really is. She was always positive and she brought a sense of strength to our little group.

We are all so different in personalities and some of us hang out more then with others, but I learned that despite how different we all are, when we were together as a whole, nobody was left out or behind. Everyone was included and that was such a wonderful thing to experience.

“If women come together, we will be the answer to perfect harmony.”-Charlena E. Jackson.

I learned this to be so true this weekend. You see, women can be not so nice. We tend to hold onto things a little more then men. We can carry a grudge, and we can say things to push the right button, knowing or at the very least, subconsciously knowing, what to say to hurt someone just to get our point across.

“A woman’s tongue is sharp enough to pierce the toughest flesh.”-Togolese Proverb.

Women can be catty (deliberately hurtful in one’s remarks; spiteful). I’m sure you would all agree. I don’t think we like to admit it outload, but I think we have all chimed into our own cattiness, at least once or twice in our lives. Between you and I, I know I’ve been guilty of my fair share of catty and I’m embarrassed by knowing I’ve snipped here and there at people.

In middle and high school, there has always been, from the beginning of time till now, the popular girls, the pretty girls, the girls many of us wanted to be like or the ones we so desired to be friends with, but those girls weren’t always so nice and in many times, they were catty. If you didn’t fit their mold, you not only didn’t fit in, much of the time you were picked on and ostracized by them and others would follow suit with negative behavior against the ones who weren’t in the in crowd.

Women, girls, we can create the perfect harmony and we can create the perfect chaos. I think we’d all prefer the harmony not only in our own lives but in the world as a whole.

A lot of us, if not all of us, feared the popular group of girls in school. They could be mean and they could be cause for so much pain during our adolescent years.

I know for me, I was always different. I wasn’t picked on, but I was certainly taught early on where my place was. I, along with many other unpopular girls knew where we could and couldn’t sit during lunch. We knew which boys it was okay to talk with and we knew which ones were off limits, despite only being friends with them.

Ladies, the group of women I hung out with are all beautiful, successful and energizing souls. Everyone of them could have been the popular, pretty girl in school, but none of them could have or would have been the catty girl.

When you hang out with a group of ladies, it can go one of two ways. You can form your click or you can form your friendships, we all chose the latter. This cruise taught me that groups of friendships are possible and they can be amazing. I don’t think we’ll all hang out on a regular basis, that’s simply not realistic, but we are all friends. At any given time, we might find ourselves running into each other. We might be calling upon each other for advice or to just have someone with a listening ear. We might even grab lunch together or invite a new friend and their significant other out for a bite, whatever our friendships look like off the Navigator of the Seas, we all came to realize, no matter how different each of us is, we came together and simply enjoyed the greatest of times.

I know I’m grateful for the time I spent learning more about my already friends. I enjoyed sitting and talking with all the different ladies. I enjoyed the laughter. In three days I think all ten of us can say, “we formed stronger relationships with our friends and we opened doors for newfound friendships.

“I think the best role models for women are people who are fruitfully and confidently themselves, who bring light into the world.”-Meryl Streep.

The 9 other women who I cruised with this weekend are all role models, each and every one of them. They are strong, independent, kind, compassionate and giving. Some of the women are business owners, others are successful in various careers, others are disabled or retired yet have returned to part time work to keep busy and help others. Every woman had something wonderful and unique to bring to the table this weekend and I think we all walked away invigorated with a feeling of being upbuilt.

“Life is short but the memories made on a girls trip last forever.”-Anitabeyondthesea.com.

One of the most important things I learned this weekend was that it is okay to take time for me. It’s okay to have friendships outside my relationship with John and it’s okay for him to have his guy friends. I am blessed to have the best of both worlds. I have my girlfriends and he has his guy friends and together, that makes for some amazing couple friends.

I had the best time with my girlfriends this weekend. We enjoyed an entire day by the pool. Some of us just sat and enjoyed the views, others stayed planted in the pool, while others ventured off on their own. No matter what any of us chose to do, we were always welcome to come back to the group and hang out.

Nobody was excluded and I believe we all had a great time. I was very thankful for today. I learned that a dear friend of mine who reads this blog, not only reads it, but believes in me as a writer. She believes I can become a published author and she resonates with the words and feelings I express here on this blog site. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t easy receiving the compliments from her. I’ve never felt good enough to receive compliments, but today, when Donna started expressing her love for the blog, I sat and listened. I felt humbled by her heartfelt expressions.

It’s funny that she brought up my blog today, because my sis Jeannie and I talked in great length about our goals for another blog. I’ll write the blog and she’ll manage our Facebook group and other social media pages. Together, I think we can make a difference and bring some brightness to the world.

With any of my writings, it is my sole intention to help others. I want to help others avoid some of the heartaches I’ve suffered from and I want everyone to know, they aren’t alone in their thoughts, challenges and accomplishments.

I learned so much from this weekend. I learned how wonderful it is to have a girl tribe. I learned how amazing the ladies in my community are. I learned that we can go away on a girls trip and enjoy each others company. We relaxed. We laughed and we had fun and when it was over, we said our goodbyes and we came home to the men we adore.

Couldn’t of asked for a more perfect time. My beautiful friend Shawna is the best coordinator I’ve ever met and she ensured that everyone’s trip was smooth sailing.

To all you wonderful ladies that I had the honor of cruising with, thank you for a memorable weekend. You guys are the best.

Who knows, next time we might get more of our lake friends to join us.

Until next time, thank you for reading and don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.