GAL PAL
They say that man’s best friend is a dog. I’m not sure what this says about men? I suppose, they like hairy things that put up with everything they dish out, can’t talk back to them and go and fetch things. As for women, there is nothing we need more than girlfriends…and more specifically, a best friend. Perhaps for some women it is also a dog, but let’s be honest, we really don’t really need yet another thing to look after that stares at us blankly when it makes a mess.
With every year that passes, I have come to realize how truly valuable girlfriends are; in fact, I believe that they are fundamentally essential to a woman’s life. There are the obvious reasons that a best friend brings: the companionship (the coffee run, retail therapy, opening night of Twilight – cause really, who the hell else is going to see that with you?); the advice the role of sounding board ["oh my god I’m going to kill him if he pees on the seat one more time!"]; not to mention the honesty that most girlfriends impart to their best friends: “You look like Jessica Simpson in those jeans, get rid of them,” - for some reason we can take this sort of bluntness from our girlfriends with very little defense. [Sorry men, you still can’t say we look fat in something, but our best friend probably can. It’s an unfair world that makes little sense).
Then there is the safe, unconditional space that two girlfriends can sink into that is not rife with what intimate relationships often carry with them. Let’s be blunt here, the fact that one is not sharing a room with their best friend, or sleeping with them makes things a lot less complicated. In fact, a good girlfriend in my opinion is all the best parts of an intimate relationship with none of the drama (there are those women out there who have HIGH drama relationships with other women – I say to this to that group, dating a man is hard enough why o why are you complicating your life?)
And of course the most painfully obvious reason to have and embrace your girlfriends is that women speak the same language. (Seriously, rejoice in this fact). Women don’t really need to speak at all, when we’re around each other we just get it. You see, anticipation and instinct are inherent to our gender, so life alongside a girlfriend is just plain easier (no offense sweetheart). If you’re out with your girlfriend and you are with each others respective children, trust me, you won’t have to ask your best friend to wipe your kid’s nose, she’ll just do it cause it needs to be done. Your best friend has also most likely walked your path - or a comparative one. She knows that you're tired (or more importantly, WHY you are tired, irrational, and emotionally and physically spent and she’s not going to judge you for it. In fact, she’s probably got some insightful tip that will get you off the proverbial ledge and to the end of the week with your sanity in tact.
Having a girlfriend also comes down to just plain fun – you’re not talking about bills, or raising the kids, or fighting over who stole the covers the night before. When you are with your girlfriends you are usually engaging in some fun mindless activity rife with gossip, Cosmopolitans, an overpriced blouse that you both just had to have, and an impromptu trip to Mexico - okay, that doesn't happen much anymore, but a girl can dream. Perhaps the unfair irony of life is that your girlfriends get the best part of you, that part that can just let go and not worry about cleaning the kitchen for the thousandth time, or how many times your partner hasn’t - although they will probably have to hear about this at length, as any good girlfriend will.