Karie Skalak, Nancy Pomykal, Lynn Luster, Kacie Skalak
“Proud to be Port O’Connor Women”

Girls need! They need family, they need purposeful work, they need loving husbands or boyfriends, they need ..I don’t know… they need shoes. I would not have thought it, but I know it is true. Girls need…girlfriends. They need women in their lives, in their homes, sometimes in their face. They need girlfriends who are older, girlfriends who are younger and girlfriends about their age. I am a non-girly girl. I don’t like to shop, think bows are something you shoot, and my favorite shoes do not have heels.

Even so, I recently attended the first celebration of Port O’Connor Women. The Facebook fellowship of the ‘Proud to be a Port O’Connor Woman’ group had never met except online. It started when many of us texted and messaged during Hurricane Harvey and then shared information and resources to help during recovery. Some members decided we needed to meet in person. A party was planned and it grew to have momentum of its own. Women came from near and far to be a part of this celebration. They came from all walks of life and different age groups, united only by their love for our small town. They brought fantastic food, delightful door prizes and infectious excitement to an evening planned just for the simple enjoyment of being together. It was a special event unlike any other. There were pampered and manicured beauties and natural and lovely country girls; homemakers and career women, moms and moms yet to be, daughters and grandmas all together sharing in an experience unique unto women.

There are lots of reasons girls need girlfriends, but here are a few that I was reminded of this weekend as POC Women celebrated:

Girlfriends give us perspective. They hold a mirror up to the shared trials and triumphs of women everywhere and help us to see and believe that we are not alone, we are not atypical or out of the ordinary. Women before us, women in our own group and women yet to be our age have struggled and celebrated many of the same moments and minutiae that we are experiencing.

Girlfriends also give us purpose. They provide living examples of God’s amazing grace, His divine power, His healing and His mercy in a world that can just be a challenge to be a part of daily.

Girlfriends also give us playfulness. With our girlfriends, we do things we would never do alone, or even with our family. With our girlfriends we laugh harder, play longer, stretch further to do and accomplish something new or just new-fangled than we would ever do alone. With girlfriends, we share our deepest dreams and heartfelt hurts and laugh until we cry. With girlfriends, we try out our latest ideas and experiment with our craziest imaginings and cry until we laugh. With girlfriends, we play like little girls.

Girlfriends give us preparation and planning. Older girlfriends give us a familiar framework for our future hopes and dreams and give truthfulness to our wonderings about what is to come with those undefined tomorrows.

Agemate girlfriends give us new ideas and fresh points of view on our current window on life. No one laughs as hard with you or cries as easily with you over your current situation and stressor as the girlfriends who are facing the same.

Younger girlfriends give us grateful hearts and precious moments. Watching young moms or struggling singles we think ‘you really are gonna miss this someday.’ Girlfriends on the brink of moments we have passed make us stop and be grateful for those precious gems.

And girlfriends give us peace. Girlfriends get together and share and grow, they commiserate and celebrate, they hold up, hold hands, hold back, hold in, hold on, hold out hope and hold together. Somehow, they leave differences and disagreements behind and as friends offer each other a safe place to land whether it’s a crash landing or a floating fly in.

Many times, girlfriends share heavy hearts and big burdens, many times girlfriends share languorous laughter and lighthearted blather. But, girlfriends share generously. Being girls, having girlfriends really matters. I am thankful for mine!

And I am so proud to be part of the celebration of the Women of Port O’Connor. Thanks to each of those precious girlfriends who shared in our celebration!