8 weeks of Rosemont Love

(Yes, that's Cavin in my belly - as opposed to TexMex.)

And then there's Rosemont.  Yes, I am blessed enough to have eight more best friends from my college era.  These girls have seen it all...and then some.  And we are everywhere: Texas, New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, even London!  Yet for the last 13 years (?) we have managed to get together as a group and relive the good 'ole days.  Marriages, babies, life changes...hasn't stopped us.  We close our ears to our husbands complaints and head to (usually) San Antonio for some queso, massages, and girl time.  Last year, I remember turning to Stacy and Erin and saying "I didn't realize how much I actually needed this until I was here". Because with these girls I can be real.  We say it how it is.  We talk about how life is friggin' hard.  How it is confusing and heart breaking.  How some days we love where we are and then other times we want to go right back to our 20s.



(Rebecca - you weren't in the first picture so I had to add this one!)

A couple of us sat on the front porch of our B&B last year over some wine and really got into it.  We talked about how things were difficult, how marriage isn't always perfect, and how we sometimes feel like our kids are going to grow up and land in jail.  There was no facade or 'keeping up with the joneses', or competition that I occasionally feel when I get into similar conversations with others.  It was real. And that's what I love about these women.

When my mom got sick they stepped up.  I received a constant stream of text messages, phone calls, photos of their adorable kids (thanks Katie!).  They were there, even though they couldn't be physically.  And when she died they rallied together to send me 8 weeks of care packages (each girl was responsible for a certain week).  They sent everything from queso and our favorite cereal, to custom thank you notes, to wine, childrens' museum tickets, adorable dog collars for the furry ones, a hand made framed momento of my mom, donations to the Avon walk, pajamas, spa stuff, and more.  Every week it lifted my spirits b/c it meant people were thinking of me and loved me and were there for me.  And it wasn't about the 'stuff'...it was the thought.  It was the fact that they knew they couldn't physically be there so they thought about what the next best thing was and took action.  Because that's what best friends do...they are there.  They blew me way.  And I'm one lucky girl.  I am humbled by their generosity.

It is fitting that the last gift I received from them was a beautiful bouquet of daisies....our sorority flower.  Here's the thing about daisies: they are a wildflower and they grow in bulk in beautiful fields...and they live a lot longer than typical flowers.  They say a lot about my relationships with these girls - beautiful, wild, and forever-lasting.