Showing UP – Carolina girls

I had not seen my college buddies in several years. Covid, kids and life kept getting in the way of us making a concerted effort to plan a trip. I love these ladies. I don’t talk to them as often as I would like, and I’m the worst at simply making a phone call to check in. I rely on the quick text or funny email as my way of connecting. But despite that, I know that I can count on these gals to show up for me no matter what. They have proved it time and time again. When my Dad died, every single one of them came for the visitation and the funeral. They fed me, made me laugh and cried with me as I suffered through. Just having them present shored me up in a way that I pray I can repay one day. Eleven years later, our friend Julie met the man of her dreams and planned to marry him on New Year’s Day. After many, many texts and date suggestions, we finally got together at my beach house. We were even able to pull in our buddy living in Montana, who many of us had not seen in 30 years. To say we had fun is an understatement!

I arrived at the house early with a little OBTW merchandise as a small token of thanks for supporting the blog. I’ve handed out a few sweatshirts over the months to my kids, their friends, my editor and others. My girls talked me into the design and if you head down to Clemson, you may run across a few. To be honest though, I was a little nervous that my college friends would think it’s silly or worse, think the blog itself is silly. Their opinions matter to me. Maybe more so than I even realized. But true to form, they showed up, put them on and said sweet, supportive things about my blog. We laughed, we cried, we showered Julie with our favorite things. We ate and drank to our hearts content and reconnected just as we do every time we are together. We solved world problems as we power-walked on the beach, and we made a shared document with all of our recommendations for gifts, products, recipes and more. We flew around the island in our matching OBTW sweatshirts, sightseeing and crashing the chapel which ironically, turned out to be similar to Julie’s wedding chapel. We practiced her walk down the aisle and for great laughs, we channeled the cast of The Office, choreographing our own dance procession. 

A month after our trip, most of us were reunited again at the wedding. We laughed about our trip, added more photos to our shared album and sent messages to those who had to miss due to Covid or distance. Most importantly though, we made preliminary plans to show up for our next trip. This time, I don’t think we’ll wait as long. These friendships have stood the test of time. When we are together, we are filled up. When we say goodbye, I leave trying to be a better person, a better friend. Why the heck would I not do everything in my power to keep seeing these important people in my life? Showing up for each other is what we do best. Whether it’s for a funeral or a wedding or even simply by wearing an OBTW sweatshirt! Showing up is what these friends do.
Oh By the Way, as I mentioned, OBTW has merchandise! If interested, please let me know! I plan to place another sweatshirt order soon. I may also add some short-sleeve/long-sleeve T-shirts or hats. I’ve attached The Office video for your enjoyment. And lastly, I’m sharing some of our favorite things in case you are interested!