My dear friend, Sheryl, has birthday coming up and I decided to do something extra special for her. With the help of her husband (mostly his agreement to watch the 4 kids for 48 hours straight), I arranged a Girls Getaway Weekend for the two of us. Our friendship is so special to me, and I was looking forward to having this quality time together. But even beyond that, Sheryl has spent the last 8 months taking care of everyone, working tirelessly to tend to the needs of her children, her husband, her mother-in-law. I was hoping she would be able to relax and rest and rejuvenate in a unique way that wouldn’t be possible in her own home. (You know how it is, ladies? Resting at home is so hard when the laundry is screaming your name, the kids are bickering, meals need to be made.)

And so, at 4:00 on Thursday afternoon we hit the NY thruway for our trip west–my parents’ house. They graciously opened their home to us, took us out to eat, spoiled us with special goodies, let us sleep in. Sheryl and I were not only able to visit with my parents and both of my grandparents (including a few rousing games of Farkle!), but we laid on the beach of Lake Erie for almost 3 hours, slumber-partied-it-up in our shared double bed late into the evening, giggled like school girls when the exhaustion got to us, shopped in Erie and had a nice lunch together at Hoss’s. And for all those days our well of conversation never seemed to run dry.

Thankful for sweet friendship, appreciative of the gift of time together, and wishing Sheryl a happy birthday (on Monday.)