The value of Gal Pals

Having grown up in a neighborhood brimming with only boys, I've never had many Gal Pals. My female friends always tend to be less silly delicate girly and more sassy geeky smart.

Don't get me wrong, i love my guy buddies and always appreciate the "let's blow shit up or play with something dirty" as opposed to the "let's go shopping". I've had some great times and they've been great friends. But there were always problems they weren't very good at helping with. Like relationships problems, body image issues (not everything is solved with "tell her she's pretty"), and those occasional times when you just need to freak out about a guy.

My early attempts to be feminine were hilarious, now that i'm looking back. I didn't have the Cosmo-approved friends to steer me until relatively recently unless you count my girly-girl sister...and we still disagree on the value of pink. So i took the Tough Girl road from grade school through college. Leather jackets, tank tops, jeans and ever single item of make up that i own can fit into a pouch inside my reasonably sized purse. I was....am tough. Tough on myself, tough on others. At times...way too tough. Needless to say, this made getting some of those feminine friends difficult. But, in time, i found a few and for some reasons that are beyond me, they've stuck around.

To clarify, by feminine, i don't mean the girls that always wear dresses, know the latest trends, or have $300.00 purses which...let's face it....are ugly and only go with one outfit.

I mean the girl friends who are there for you on days when you have a doubt about how beautiful you are, who are there to give you a second opinion for necessary shopping trips and who aren't afraid to throw around the word "cute!", who's honesty is refreshingly anti-BS but not mean, and who remind you to be thankful for the blessings in your life.

Gal Pals are the girls that you band together with when gloom threatens to enter your head. You can laugh over the ridiculousness of price tags, wardrobe malfunctions, surprises your body throws your way, and Men are from Mars moments.

I pretended like i was strong enough to not need these kinds of friends for far too long in my youth. I pretended like these things were irrelevant and worthless knowledge for far too long.

Something happened in the last day that really brought me down. Something that would be difficult for guys to understand the profound effect it had on me. Something that can't be fixed with the "but you are so beautiful" response Boyfriend Jon . It wasn't PMS. It wasn't just insecurities cropping up. It was so much more than that; deeper and more complicated. And i was able to turn to some of my Gal Pals for help with the untangling.

So, after a few hours, some emails, some texts, and some time talking.... i got my reassurance, honesty, laughs, second opinions, scoffs, and ultimately, relief from what was going on in my head. Together we formed a plan that doesn't force me to go this alone nor feel like i have to be carried.

I have Gal Pal support and it means so much to me. They're there to help me when my toughness runs out and i need a booster shot of some attitude and sass.