OyChicago blog

There is something so special about a reunion with your group of girlfriends. This past weekend, Sari, one of my dearest friends from college, came to visit. Most of us girls live here in Chicago, so Sari coming in made us complete for a short while. If we were guys, we would probably say something like “we’re getting the band back together!” but we’re not, so instead we go to brunch and shop.

It’s a little scary to think about the fact that I met my college friends 10 years ago. So it makes sense that when we hang out these days, things are a little different. We are older, we have jobs, some of us have husbands and boyfriends, we have crazy busy schedules, and like to get up early on Saturday morning to go to yoga.

But when someone comes to visit and the group is reunited, it somehow feels like we’ve been transported back 10 years. Even though we know a lot has changed, it suddenly feels, just for a little while, like the old days.

In college, I had my girls—a constant support system, guaranteed plans for every night, a group of confidants. And while we are for the most part still a very tight group, nothing really compares to the type of friendship and bonding that comes with living with your best girlfriends 24/7 in a college atmosphere. See, that’s the great thing about college—everyone is at the same place in life. There is very little to worry about except finishing your paper and what you’re going to wear out to the bar that night.

These days, we are all at different places in our lives—I have friends who are single, engaged, married, new mommies, students and professionals that run the spectrum from searching for the perfect job to being settled in a career. And that makes things a little harder on friendships. This is an anxious time for most of us—we are coming into ourselves as adults, dealing with real life issues and learning that though we walked together at graduation as a group, now our paths may take us in different directions.

I’m very lucky in that most of my friends from both high school and college live here in Chicago, except for a few very close friends who have settled elsewhere. And it’s weekends like these that remind me of just how amazing my friends are.

I guess the point of all this is that this weekend was kind of a wakeup call for me. A reminder of what I had, still have, and what I need to make sure never to lose. Yes, I’m married now, and yes my friends and I all have very busy lives as young professionals, but we should work to keep our friendships strong. And when times get tough, we can always get the band back together, bond over egg white omelettes, go out and have a good time and still wake up in time for yoga.