Friends

This September it will be 7 years since I met my 3 closest friends. We call ourselves the Bratz. We all work together, our husbands all get along well, and we can have more giggles in one evening than some people can have all week.

When I met these ladies they were all married and I was the single gal. Not only did they put up with my endless dating conversations, old boyfriend gripes and single struggles, but they treated me like gold and I never felt like the "fifth wheel". Their husbands treated me even better and the 7 of us would do all sorts of fun outings together.

When I met my husband, they all welcomed him in to our "group" and one of our first dates was a Halloween bowling party with all of them. At our wedding, the "Bratz" entertained the crowd and our MC said he'd never seen such a gorgeous group of teachers. We have an annual "Bratz Family Christmas" together at a spa, and we celebrate each other's birthdays with evenings out and crazy school pranks.

The past 7 years of friendship has seen many joys, many tears and we have learned through each others lives how precious family and friends are. All of our lives have changed incredibly since those first early years of friendship, when looking back, we didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Tonight we are leaving our families at home and heading out to supper together. There's guaranteed to be a lot of laughs and a few tears but we will enjoy it all with each other. And I will love every minute of it.