This one is for my Florida gals

Friendship is something that has been on my mine a lot lately. Mostly because I am in the thick of 'getting to know' new friends and figuring out who is going to be part of my 'circle' here in Delaware and partly because I have been reading Lisa Jo's new book Never Unfriended (so good y'all!).

I think I mentioned this in my first post (though too lazy to go back and check), but the hardest part of leaving Florida was leaving my friends. I will be honest (and this may shock my Florida Gals-because most of you LOVE your summer day) but I don't love Florida. I don't love being hot all the time, and as April days heated up I always felt a bit depressed about the prospects of the looming, never ending summer days spread out ahead of me. So, though I loved the beaches and the days at the splash park, I really could live without Florida in my life. BUT God was so good to me by providing me with awesome friends during my time there, so my heart will always be partly in Florida because of the people. 

You see, the friends I made in Florida are the types of friends that love you unconditionally, don't judge you for your parenting decisions and love my kids like they were family. They are gals that probably wouldn't have been my choice of friends in high-school and maybe not college. Not because they aren't awesome (they are so awesome) but because they are all so beautifully different. We are mixed bag of people, all different levels of education, ages, interests, discipline styles and experience, but we were bonded together over motherhood, Jesus, salt and sand. 

They taught me so much about friendship and how to be a 'yes' friend, when a friend needs your help. But they also taught me to need help. Because they were friends who wouldn't let you always say no to their offer to help you out. 

I honestly don't know when our paths will cross again. I hope to make it back to Florida some day, but I know they won't all be there waiting for me in the future if that happens. Some of them have already moved away, some are planning on moving away and some I know will be in the sunshine state probably for the rest of their lives. But the 2.5 years our lives intersected in Florida have changed me and grown me and taught me to be a better friend.

(I am way pregnant in these pictures, so... And sorry about the low-quality, I never really remember to get my phone out to take good pictures when with my gals, probably because I am having so much fun).