Appreciate (Reverb10, Day 14)

December 14 – Appreciate
What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it? (Author: Victoria Klein)

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The support of my girlfriends.

A few years ago, on winter break from college, we all mentioned how stressed we were trying to fit in girls’ nights, date nights, family time, personal time. Right then, a few of us made a policy. It basically boils down to “I support you.” Cheese-tastic, but it works.

If you need the gym more than you need a wine night, then you should hop on the treadmill and not look back (because you’ll fall). If you want to sit at home and watch three seasons of 24 (you know who you are), instead of coming out to the bar, that’s your right. If date night falls on the same night as a really important communal walk to Chipotle, it’s okay that you casually bow out.

When one of my closest friends recently announced she was moving in February and we made hasty plans for a celebration night, she asked us not to cry. And it honestly hadn’t occurred to me to be sad quite yet. She’s taking a huge risk in order to pursue a fabulous and challenging future - that’s what all friends should wish for one another. I don't believe there's room for high levels of selfishness in truly adult friendships. I'm grateful to have friends who feel the same.

This year was challenging, in terms of finding the time for one another – we juggled school, demanding full-time jobs, second jobs, long-distance relationships. Yet it is nothing compared to what is coming in our next chapter- all of the above but also kids, husbands, carpools, houses, and probably extensive therapy to deal with all of it.

The juxtaposition of time and circumstance will perhaps unravel our bonds a bit, but for right now we’ve created a bubble of support and love that has allowed us all to grow in the thousand directions in which we’re supposed to be growing. And I look forward to appreciating them all for decades to come.