What I Learned At Dinner

One of the first friends I made in Houston was Mallory. I tell people she was God's special way of giving me a hug. See, Mallory isn't married. Mallory doesn't have kids. I don't hang out with her because our kids are in the same class. I don't have to make small talk because we don't really have much in common. I hang out with her because she's fun, and we usually talk so long one of us is late for wherever we're going. When I moved to a new place yet again and needed a friend to just be silly with, God gave me Mallory.

There's one minor hiccup in our friendship. Mallory is 25. Well, 26 now. She had a birthday this week, and Friday night 8 of her friends and I went out to dinner to celebrate her. If you are over the age of 33, when was the last time you hung out with 25 year old girls? Let me tell you this: You are missing out. You're missing out on knowing the newest online shops for cute jewelry and how to do a smoky eye and a dozen other life lessons you long forgot. Here's my list. Here's what I learned from one evening with nine 20-something girls...

1. I'm not 20-something
2. When the bridesmaid dress is coral and the wedding colors are spring but it's a more formal evening wedding, you should do a smokey eye with shades of brown. (Please note: I have never done a "smokey eye" nor would I know how to do it regardless of the shades you provide me.)
3. I am SO glad I don't have to date. Like, more glad than I can put it into words.
4. My phone can do about 176,000 things I don't know about or understand
5. My fingers don't move that fast. These girls go from website to photo to send a text to check an email to respond to Facebook...my brain about exploded just looking over Alexa's shoulder. I'm pretty sure there was smoke coming off the screen.
6. I can't keep up. With any of it.
7. I'm fairly certain I don't want to keep up.
9. The sorority pose is exhausting! You know the one...the girls in front bend forward so their butts are out and their hands rest on their knees while the girls in back hug in close. If it requires that you squat in that position until your thighs burn or you stand on one foot to get the best picture, that's what you do, darn it! And if it requires 13 takes, you better smile as big in the 12th as the first because it's going on 10 different Instagram accounts.
10. I'm sleepy at 9:30. (Long before the aforementioned photo op, mind you) I don't have to be in bed before 10:00, but I need to be in comfy clothes on somebody's sofa. I almost turned into a pumpkin!
11. Hugs make you smile no matter how many you get. (And I got a lot. They are huggers and I love that about them!)

I also learned:
12. There are blessings in being the oldest. My school loans have been paid off longer than they've been out of high school, so I picked up all the extras.
13. There is so much joy in freedom. There is so much to smile about in life - a cute font, a new lip color, a fun new piece of jewelry or a pen that writes really well. It's there if you look and let yourself smile.

We get so caught up in the stuff of life that sometimes we forget to breathe. We forget to laugh just because we can. We forget to hug. We take ourselves and our jobs and our spouses and our kids and our plans so seriously.

God gave me a special hug when He gave me Mallory because every time I spend time with her He reminds me who He made me to be. Before I was a wife or a writer or a mom or a teacher I was a girl. And it's fun to just be a girl. I'm so glad these sweet girls reminded me of that.

Don't miss the irony of my closed eyes. I SAID I was sleepy!