Grits and Girlfriends

I love my girlfriends.
Several of them came over this morning for brunch. I feel so archaic using the word brunch in a sentence, but alas, we are now ladies who brunch…and we simply love it! This gathering was a reunion of sorts for a group of us who traveled to Europe together a few years back. Soon the table talk would turn quickly to statements like “do you remember those hideous shoes you wore…” and “was that really the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish?”
Rewind.
My friends showed up this morning like a gaggle of pink and purple Easter chickens all chirpy and excited for our girls’ reunion. All the giddiness must have given them temporary amnesia because they obviously forgot who they were dealing with and that they were sooooooooooooooooooooo early.
Planned, Punctual, and Practical—not three words that would describe yours truly.
I, the hostess of this get-together am running my typical 10 minutes behind. Who am I kidding? I am running 10 days late. You see, I can never calculate the time it takes to complete simple tasks like: getting dressed, making coffee, taking out the trash, shoving my entire wardrobe (dirty and clean) into my closet and willing the door to close so that my room at least looks clean—a girls’ got a lot to do before 10am. So, needless to say when they arrive 15 minutes til…. I was soooooo not ready.
The door flings open to laughter and casserole dishes and my frazzled self forgetting what Miss Manners would say so I exclaim “you’re early!”
Breathless, I commence to enumerate the reasons why they should delay their arrival at least 9 minutes. And then, with perplexed looks upon their faces, in unison they chimed “but….it’s us.”

• It’s us implies….we know the real you. We know your closet is jammed with all the stuff that was 5 seconds ago on your bedroom floor.
• It’s us implies…like we care if you aren’t Martha Steward or Betty Crocker or whoever the current standard of female perfection is today.
• It’s us implies….we’d rather help you set the table so we can do it together than walk into a immaculately arranged affair.
• It’s us implies…girl I’ve seen you at your worst and at your best and I still love you.
• It’s us implies….you don’t have to be anything but you.
  

One of the greatest gifts of my life is the amazing girlfriends the Lord has blessed me with. William Shakespeare once said, “I am wealthy in friends” and I must agree. God has grace me with friends who have walked with me through the painful wilderness seasons and friends that have celebrated with me on the mountaintop. But mostly, He’s given me friends who love and accept me just as I am—mess and all.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. James 1:17 New International Version