I get by with a little help from my friends ♥

I don’t have many friends in PA but if you told me three years ago that I would meet these two and feel like I’ve known them for years, I would not have believed you. I'll admit that I was one of the ones obnoxiously singing, "No new friends, no new friends" the loudest. And when those new friends want to celebrate your birthday I must admit that it makes you feel all sorts of special.

As much as moving to Pennsylvania benefited Sean's career, I think it has benefited me as well. I’m living in a house that I really love. It feels like home to me and when I walk through the front doors after a long day I immediately feel settled. I have a job that I truly enjoy, that is less stressful than my last and at a place that makes me feel appreciated. And I’ve made new girlfriends that I really needed in this stage in my life. It is like God purposely changed the directions of our life because He knew that my path was going to be a little different than the world I was previously living in. He placed me in a new place where I could be comfortable with the path my life was leading. I hope that makes sense.

In my "old" life, I was constantly going to baby showers and kid birthday parties. How hard it would be right now to be in that place where I don’t have a kid(s) to bring to functions. How left out and out of place I would feel with my closest friends. Now, I can’t make it to game night, etc, because I live so far away and not because I don’t want to be reminded that I’m childless. I don't have to fall out of relationship with my best girlfriends and I could truly miss them that when we catch up, we catch up. I’ve been given the opportunity to truly enjoy the pictures of all my dear friends getting together with their beautiful children from afar.

Cinthia has no kiddos and wants no children. I don’t think I knew any woman in my life who did not want children. She was/is the first. And I remember when she first told me I drilled her with questions because how was this possible? But she knows what she wants and told me that children is not one of them. I know, how did our winery visit make me want to ramble about this?

Well, our conversations at the winery made me realize how thrilled I am, not only that we moved to PA but that I met a person that I have so much in common with in this stage of my life. We are both in our 30s, I’m one month older than her which she loves to remind me, we don’t have children, we both love pitbulls, brunch dates, shopping, Netflix, wine and social media.

That's all the fluff but we discuss important things too, like politics, which we both agree on which is great because we can still like each other, lol. But seriously that's important right now! We never run out of things to talk about. I don’t have to attempt to understand not having a good nights rest because baby woke up in the middle of the night. I don’t have to understand breastfeeding, I don’t have to understand the pains of going back to work after maternity leave. I don't have to understand weight gain that didn't come solely from extra cheese and wine. We can blame it on not having the strength to say no to cheese fries and skipping that workout.

Our winery visit was a little different this time around because we were indoors as it was chilly that day. It, however, did not take away from the fun we had that day. It also helped to make me feel extremely grateful to have friends I can rely on; old and new.

Margaret worked earlier that day but she met up with us at Cinthia's house later in the evening for us to go out for dinner and dancing. She surprised me with a spider web cake which she apologized for because the cake had shifted on the ride over. Not a big deal to me, it was delicious. Why she thought to apologize is beyond me but she has this thing about giving perfect cakes. We proceeded to have such a great night and I'm so glad that these two are in my life! ♥

Life may be different years from now but right now, at this moment, I am so thankful that I’ve been planted in a place where I can grow and appreciate the turn of events versus feel sadness that my life isn’t where I thought it would be at 34. Sean asked me Sunday afternoon, "What is it that y'all talk about?" I could not help but take a moment to think about it. I replied, "Everything and nothing". Life is a crazy thing but there’s nothing greater than sharing a bottle of wine while laughing hysterically with a great friend(s) to remind you that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.