“Is it just me?”, “Am I crazy?”
I’ve gotten so used to second guessing the validity of my opinions, even as it specifically pertains to my own experiences that it becomes almost necessary to hear out loud, that I’m not alone.
Read MoreFor as long as I can remember I’ve been presented with these false narratives. Narratives that perpetrated the belief that women are catty, jealous, bitter, and incapable of nurturing and maintaining genuine relationships with each other. We have of course also been presented with positive displays of sisterhood in movies, television, and magazines. I just couldn’t help but notice the overwhelming number of portrayals that depict women in a light that made it seem slightly unrealistic for women to possess drama-free, healthy, and stable relationships.
Read MoreMy aunt’s voice was unusually stern. Her brown locks swung past her shoulders as she waited for me to do it that very second. So, I did. I placed my right hand on my left breast and felt a lump the size of a chickpea. I opened my eyes and jumped out of bed.
It was only a dream, right? There’s no way I have a lump in my breast. Not after my dad died. Not after the way my dad died.
Read MoreDo you know how amazing it is to be surrounded by such beautiful, smart, fun and resilient women? Words can’t even begin to describe it. I’ve been so blessed to have such great friends that sometimes I forget many women have never and will never experience the beauty of friendship. Some don’t even desire to have a sisterhood. Casting friendships aside because of petty differences and unnecessary drama.
Read MoreYetti is the first to notice that I’m on mimosa number three. I’m mid-pour, with my eyes down, dousing my internal fire with glass after glass of alcohol. She bores holes into my eyelids for a full thirty seconds before I allow her eyes to catch mine. She twists her face into a shame-on-you scowl, then clears her throat and laughs. I shrug and laugh with her.
“I need a banana. Bring me one?”
I told her I didn’t have time but would try tomorrow. I never had the opportunity. Twenty-four hours later the sound of her voice was silenced by a breathing machine. They strapped her hand to the bed rail because she kept taking the tube out of her mouth.
Read MoreI stressed myself trying to create meaningful relationships, that I ended up having to cancel more people than I could call on. People’s baggage wasn’t good for my health, and while we all come with it, it was important for me to recognize how much of it I could carry, and frankly, whose was worth carrying.
No matter how many ways I tried to force connections, none of them mattered. The women who weren’t meant for me simply weren’t meant for me. While I had never been a stranger to knowing how and when to release friendships, I recognized that I also had to learn how to nurture and protect them.
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