Writer Emily Rapp manifested my appreciation for my girlfriends when she said, "Friendships between women are often the deepest and most profound love stories." If you're lucky, you're like me, and you have a bunch of incredible girls in your life that constantly build you up and always keep you in check. They're your soulmates, they've saved your life a few (hundred) times, and who the hell knows where you'd be without them? (Jail, you'd probably be in jail). Although you normally show your gratitude to them with surprise french vanilla iced coffees and multiple heart-eye-emojis on their Instagram selfies, here is a list of 15—out of a million—things to thank your girlfriends for:
1. Having zero boundaries with you
From taking your FaceTime calls while they're showering, (easier than it sounds, you just prop your phone on your shower rack) to answering your cringe-worthy TMI questions that other people with close-minded friends are forced to Google, you can send your girls pictures of you in your underwear in a Forever 21 dressing room ("Yay or nay to this crop top?") and it's totally normal.
2. Being excruciatingly honest with you
"You didn't try hard enough," "You're being petty," "You're still not over him," Sometimes the degree of honesty almost hurts because it's so spot on, but no one is more fit to keep you in check than the people that know you best, and, at the end of the day, you're always a better person because of it.
3. Your brunch dates
There's something about talking about your problems over belgian waffles and home fries that just feels so right. Having small life epiphanies between orange juice and "pass the syrup" requests is what keeps you sane.
4. Censoring your cell phone use when you're drunk
Calling your ex, subtweeting your boss, and texting your mom that you love her more than you love Twisted Teas all sound like great ideas at 3 a.m. Your equally tipsy girlfriends not only make sure this doesn't happen, but they're also unsung heroes the next morning when you insist, "Why would I want to text my mom that? I definitely did NOT want to text my mom that."
5. Talking you out of your crazy ideas
Joining the military! Getting a hand tattoo! Dropping out of college to move to Miami! Sometimes you don't think things all the way through, but, luckily for you, your friends do, and they're always all, "You barely passed high school gym class," "You can't even commit to a nail polish color for a week," "You hate being hot". Good call, guys.
6. Always telling you that it's going to be okay
You fail tests, get laid off, and are victim to countless other bad day circumstances, occasionally. When it feels like the world is against you, your friends are always there to tell you that, breathe in, everything is going to work out, and, breathe out, even if it doesn't, you'll still be okay.
7. Singing off-key with you often
Damn, you guys can't sing. But that doesn't stop you when you're in the car, getting ready to go out, or otherwise in the mood to belt your tone-deaf hearts out, high notes and all.
8. Following up "We need to start dieting" pledges with "Wanna get half priced apps?" texts just a few hours later
Spinach and artichoke dip>spin class. Being surrounded by people who support this mentality is priceless to you. Even when they are dedicated to counting calories and working out every day, all it takes is a "Pleasseeeee get food with me" text from you and they're getting the two for $20 with you at Applebees, or ordering the #1 meal, extra pickles, at Mcdonalds.
9. Believing in your dreams even when you doubt them
Your friends constantly offer you the sincerest of assurances: "Yes, you can write a book", "Yes, you will get a law degree", and always see in you the potential that you fail to see in yourself. You have screenshots of the encouraging, paragraph long texts they've sent you that start with "You got this," and every time you've ever asked "Why would I ever be able to start a business/live all over the world/make a six-figure salary?", they're the first ones to say "Why not?"
10. Supporting your romantic relationships from start to finish
There's a lot of time and energy put into any romantic relationship. There's the beginning, when you don't really know if the person you like is into you, the process of finding out, the systematically worded texting and awkward first date that ensues, the tumultuous highs and lows that make the love what it is, and then the breakup. Your friends are there, undoubtedly, through all of this. They put up with you through long hours of "Should I put a period at the end of 'hey?' An exclamation point? Emoji or no emoji?" and they don't judge you when you do indeed go with an emoji when they told you ten times not to. When you break up with the person you initially (dramatically) declared your "soul mate," they're there for you with long hugs and handfuls of junk food, and, when you get back with someone post-breakup against their advice, they still stick with you. It means a lot.
11. Staying on the phone when a "Just need to talk for five minutes!" call turns into a three hour one
Even when it's 11:30 at night and they have to be up early the next morning, they pick up. Even when they're busy studying or at a family member's house or getting ready to go out, they put you on speaker. And they don't just listen—they psychoanalyze, sympathize, and give constructive criticism to all of your problems, even the embarrassingly mundane ones. And when you just want to talk, they're down for that, too, even when it's not the most easy or convenient thing for them.
12. Responding to your play-by-play texts efficiently and passionately
First date nightmares, parties that turn out to be busts, and serious job interviews all call for 16 different texts along the lines of "What. the. f*ck.", "What do I even say to that?!?" "Do I stick around or say I'm going to the bathroom and bolt? HELP". You blow up their phones like a crazy ex-girlfriend, but without fail, they reply to every one of your concerns within minutes (generally encouraging you to not use the bathroom excuse.)
13. Getting their hopes up—and then getting let down—with you
Your girlfriends are the people who you divulge the wildest of your wishful thinking to. When you think that the internship you applied for is a solid gig that could jumpstart your career, you excitedly jump up and down with them in your kitchen, crazily, unbelievably happy. When you get the rejection email and try to pretend like you're okay, they hurt with you. Your pain is their pain; their happiness, yours. Most of the relationships that you have in life will never be as selfless and entangled as that.
14. Defending you in your absence
Annoying, stupid, pretentious, you've been called it all by people you don't see eye to eye with or people that simply don't like you. When your friends are around, though, and you're not, they have your back. They're quick to defend everything about you—your actions, outfits, and 2 a.m. tweets included.
15. Witnessing most of your horror stories, knowing all of the skeletons in your closet...and still loving you
You've made mistakes. You've said things that you shouldn't have. They've seen you at your worst and they could have left, but they didn't. Be it bursting out crying in the middle of a restaurant, or saying something inappropriate in a room full of professional people, your girlfriends have seen all the ugliest parts of you and they're here to stay—not as your friends, but as your family.
