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| me and my best friend Ann |
Kids start making friends as soon as they have the ability to communicate and interact with others. We spend our whole lives meeting people and learning names and building bridges. Sometimes people grow apart or one person grows out of the other and those bridges kind of crumble. I think that sometimes people go through phases with friends. Like, they want to be around only one certain group of people. In sixth and seventh grade I had a lot "guy friends" and I put that in quotes because at twelve I thought it was really cool to have a bunch of friends that were guys. The thing is, I thought that these guys were kind, like-minded, funny, and supportive. I ended up realizing that the majority of them were not the type of friends I had expected them to be. The bonds I thought I had with these guy friends were nowhere close to the bonds I had with my girl friends. At the start of eighth grade I faced a lot of challenges with the boys around me. Let's just say that middle school boys don't handle rejection well. Through eighth grade I focused on embracing and strengthening my female friendships and I continued that through my freshman year. I learned that female friendships are a force to be reckoned with and a group of girlfriends is unstoppable.
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| me and my best friend Gabby |
When I talk about bonds between women I don't just mean as friends. I'm lucky enough to have spent my childhood around strong-willed Greek women like my mother and grandmother. Unfortunately I lost my grandmother in the fall of 2013. But I'm grateful to have had her in my life for thirteen years. She and I were extremely close. We listened to the radio, watched Home Shopping Network together, and I helped her learn how to use Facebook. I miss her a lot.
my grandmother, me, and my mother on the beach in 2001
While I talk a lot on here about famous women who are influential, I have no idea where I would be without the guidance of the women around me. It's crucial for young girls to be able to confide in and spend time with older women. In a world where women are constantly feeling the pressures of a patriarchal society and being pitted against each other they
need to support one another. I've started really getting into the habit of praising and complimenting other girls when I have the opportunity to.
With social media we have the chance to spread so many positive thoughts and showing our love for other girls. Comment something nice on someone's selfie, send your friends nice good morning texts, use your smartphone to make a little difference in someone's day. So I guess this is a sort of call to arms to all my ladies. I encourage you to make an effort to learn about the women around you and you might be surprised. When women are close to each other they are an incredible source of strength and beauty.
You can find the fabulous ladies I mentioned on Instagram here:
Ann- @annbannan_
Gabby- @polarain1999
My Mom- @thomaiomi
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