girlfriends

i started the daunting task of packing last night. we are moving downstairs (more on that in another post), and we have so much stuff crammed into our little apartment that even though we won't move for another 6 weeks, it is simply necessary that we start purging and organizing now.

i began by packing up all my photo albums. they have lived in the uppermost right corner cubby of our floor-to-ceiling bookshelf for 6 1/2 years. i have scaled our library ladder many times to get to these photo albums, but last night i took them all down and packed them away in a rubbermaid plastic tub (we'll have more storage in the new apt, so lots will get tucked away).

but, of course, i had to look through each of them before putting them to rest. i found photos of car trips to VA when i was 17, wearing my cut-off jean shorts and tights that i thought were so cool. prom photos, graduations, parties throughout the years of college and life immediately thereafter--the sin party and black sunday brunch from my life in durham certainly created some hilarious photo ops. my move to nyc, my life pre-Adam, my life pre-baby...all tucked neatly away in cheap and expensive albums, documenting my life so far.

as i poked adam relentlessly telling him stories he'd heard before of this or that photo, i was amazed at the consistency of the girlfriends in my life. i have had a solid foundation of girlfriends from age 11 until present. two certain cliques: my first high school group from park view and my UNC/post-college group. all six of these women are still a part of my life. of course, new people have come and gone, but they have remained constant.

i know that these women are my family in many more ways than my family is, but seeing them stick with me through fat and skinny, blond hair and ear-muff cut, boyfriend after boyfriend, happy and depressed--all in images--make me love them even more.

i am a lucky girl.