The Real Reason for my trip to Florida

I'm just home from 2 weeks in Florida. Each time someone asks what I was doing there, I've answered--taking a houseboat out into the Everglades. That was to be the highlight of the trip, but it was two days of the two weeks--an excuse to go. What I was really doing was traveling across country to see, and be with, if only for a day or two, the people I love most in the world.

My women friends:

Jane Kelsey Phinney, 1962. 
Judy Rowe McCully, 1967.
Kathy DeLorenzo, 1970-ish
Janice Grimes, 1981
Joanne Mansell, 1981
Johanna Moran, 1983-ish (I didn't get to see her this trip.)
Kathie Graham, 1980-ish
Teresa Sholars, 1992
Norma Watkins, 1993

Why didn't I just say this was the reason for going? Because it didn't occur to me, not until this morning when I read Emily Rapp's essay on the power of female friendship. Memories of all the joy, laughter, heartbreak, births and deaths that I've shared with these friends nearly overwhelmed me, and it made me realize that what I really wanted to do in Florida was to hug and laugh, and drink a little wine, with the most important people in my life.

http://therumpus.net/2012/01/transformation-and-transcendence-the-power-of-female-friendship/#more-95368  by Emily Rapp