The Magic Bonds of Women
You’re five years old, toes barely grazing the sand as your legs dangle from the swingset. Your parents have just dropped you off for your first day of kindergarten, and for the first time, you feel completely alone. A girl from your class takes the swing beside you, and just like that, you’ve made your first friend. You go home that day and, with excitement, tell your mom about the new friend you made.
A few years later, you’re thirteen, searching for somewhere — anywhere — to belong, when a girl from your social studies class asks you to sit with her at lunch. It’s a small moment, but it feels like everything, because today, you don’t have to sit alone.
Then you blink, and suddenly you’re in college, feeling thirteen all over again, unsure of where you fit in this new world around you. You feel homesick, hoping that this feeling of loneliness won’t last forever. But after a couple of weeks, your new roommates begin to feel like home, and you smile, realizing that you have been waiting for them your entire life.
In every uncertain, in-between version of myself, female friendships find me anyway — leaving me better than they found me. Honestly? It feels a little like magic. Because let’s face it: women are pretty damn magical.
I’ve been lucky enough to feel all kinds of love — romantic love, familial love, affectionate love — you name it. But there’s a special kind of magic found in female friendships. It’s a knowing glance, a shared laugh, a safe space where you can tell your secrets and fears and dreams.
They’re there for the glittery nights. The ones where you’re getting ready for a much-needed girls’ night out. You blast “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” so loud that it shakes your entire house. The atmosphere smells like sweet perfume, and somewhere between the music, laughter bounces off the walls. Tonight, it’s all about the girls. You dance, you sing, you let it all out. Nothing is getting in the way of your good time.
They’re there for the gloomy nights, too. The heartbreaks, the losses, the moments where you feel like the world might just stop spinning. And yet, somehow, they show up. You know that as long as you have them, you’ll never have to face anything alone. Even on the days you feel like you can barely get out of bed, there they are — patiently waiting for you.
They’re even there for the quiet, repetitive moments. Life doesn’t always sound like a dance party; sometimes, it’s more like a dull, grey hum. But then, your friends show up like a flash of confetti, a spark of laughter, a reminder that even the dullest of moments can sometimes shine.
My female friendships are written on every page of my life — in the chapters soaked in laughter, in the lines covered in tears, in the pages filled with success, and even in the ones smudged with failure. If you read between the lines, you’ll find them — always. There’s nothing quite like it, and it’s a magic that deserves to be celebrated every day. So here’s to the women who lift us up, help us shine, and walk beside us. Here’s to the friends who feel like home.