Monday, September 3, 2007

The Power of Reply All

My family and I went to Calgary for an extended long weekend. We haven't taken any summer holidays so we decided to make a mini-holiday.


The main reason we went is one of the 'girls' was going to be in Calgary. 'The Girls' are my posse of friends from pharmacy school. They are, to me, some of the dearest people in the world. So going to Calgary was a good reason to see them all (all 5 of them!) and their families.





The Girls do a special trip every year - we refer to it as Spa Weekend. For the last 5 years we have done this as an annual event - no husbands, no kids. Just us, some wine, some food and some spa-ing. It is our time to reconnect and refocus our friendship.



The key is that we don't really have to spend too much time catching up as we stay in close contact through regular email updates. My friend Stace referred to it once as the Power of Reply All, and I think that is so true. With a few minutes of time, and a quick punch of the Reply All - we can all stay connected. We know if someone has had a difficult day at work (this happens often), we know if someone has had a difficult day with the kids (this happens REALLY often) and we know where to go for non-judgmental advice. We have grown significantly over the spa weekends. Opened up about difficulties in our past and present. We've gone through, as a group, divorce, miscarriages, colicky babies, and many (many, many) family issues. We know everyone will provide their insight and then stand back and offer words of encouragement prn (that's pharmacy girl talk for - as needed).



This trip was important because we not only got to spend time with each other, but with everyone's families. We hear so much about them, but rarely see them. The kids got along as only kids can, and the adults sat back, watched, laughed and enjoyed every minute.



The weekend was busy, exhausting, refreshing and everything in between. Those ladies are amazing women and it was worth every minute.



And now, I'm trying to convert them all to my ways.

One down... 4 to go....

3 comments:

Purple Neon said...

Teri - you rock! What a lovely way to express yourself. I had a wonderful week/end with all of you too, sisters of my heart :)

Stace

J. said...

Nice. Now if you could get them all knitting you SOCKS, you'd really be getting somewhere.

Anonymous said...

What a sweet post. You are lucky to have such amazing friends (and they are lucky to have you). And I'm ever so impressed that you are bringing some of them over to the dark side.