I have a group of close girlfriends who have known each other since school. We have grown up together and faced just about every life issue together. We’ve fallen out, fought, cried, broken up, laughed and talked our way through every major life event any of us has faced.

It is a wonder sometimes to be so close to such a great group of people and I marvel that through some trick of fate, I managed to meet all these people by the pure luck of attending a certain high school.

These days, we are generally spread across the globe, but still manage to meet up (or plan trips) to ensure virtually nothing we have to face is faced alone.

This past weekend, the 5 currently residing in Wellington (two others are in Melbourne and one is just about to set off for the US) headed to the beach for a ‘girls weekend’. One of us is going through a tough time and it was a chance to get out of our routines and spend a weekend nestled in the warmth of great conversation, excellent food and a couple of bottles of wine.

We talked, quite literally for 48 hours non-stop. We almost managed to tag team through the night to ensure someone was always awake. We laughed so much our bodies revolted against us, we played helicopters on the beach until Claire fell in the ocean and our tears were wiped away by the wind. We analysed irony for so long it now has a whole new meaning, and we sang Disney songs better than Elton.

We came away with 2 key mottos:

1. Leave your ego at the door.
2. Don’t judge people’s motives, only their judgements (That was helped by the Vice Presidential debate)

One thing that never fails to surprise me in life is the healing power of friends and the joys of knowing people who will stand by you no matter what, who hold your hand through your weaknesses and who make you laugh when you would otherwise be crying.

Girls, we’re nearing the ten year mark… I never thought I’d ever be old enough to know people this long! I hope our predictions for where we’re at in twenty ten are both completely correct and utterly wrong.

We are unbelievably lucky to have each other.