Vibrant Nation

Once again I've been rescued. Thanks to my Vibrant Nation "outreach program", I've been lifted from my Green Valley desert doldrums, pulled back into the land of the living, into the welcoming arms of a new found friend. Don't get me wrong, I love Russ, but there's nothing in the world like good old fashioned female companionship.

Girlfriends. You just can't beat 'em.

No matter how much you love the man in your life, there's just no substitute for regular doses of like minded female companionship. So if there's no man on hand at the moment - don't despair. There are plenty of girlfriends to go around. As another female friend in Richmond says, "We women need our circles, our estrogen mirrors." And isn't that what Vibrant Nation is all about?

Like me, my new friend Jane grew up in Richmond Virginia. But despite the fact that we've now discovered we have many mutual friends, she was a few years older, so we missed completely. Last winter her sister discovered my journal on Vibrant Nation, and forwarded it on to Jane. She left Richmond ("ran away", as she puts it) when she was in her twenties to live in Colorado, and never looked back. Horses, cowboys, and wide open spaces were much more Jane's style. (her earliest memory was wanting to be a cowgirl). Now, lucky for me, she spends her winters in Arizona (horses and all).

Jane responded to one of my posts on Vibrant Nation, which triggered a year long e-mail relationship that's kept us both entertained. As pen pals, we made each other laugh, shared tales of relationships, writing frustration, painting, and weight struggles, though unlike me, she's as thin as a fence rail. Jane too is a painter, a reader, a lifelong seeker of wisdom and truth. She's disarmingly honest, refreshingly irreverent. An inveterate, unapologetic lover of a good laugh. Full of beans and enthusiasm, a sort of a female Peter Pan, surrounded by her own tribe of animals (2 horses, 3 dogs, 6 cats) instead of lost boys, though she'd be the first to tell you she's taken in a few of those in adult form and lived to tell the tale. Jane says her main problem is that, at 62, she still hasn't managed to really grow up. She keeps a box of dress up clothes in the back room, and prides herself on her ability to get anyone to drop their regular "costumes" and go rogue! Needless to say, we hit it off immediately, and splashed around happily in our estrogen soup for two days and two nights.

A taste of Jane:

"You don't look nearly as fat as I thought you would."

"I've never had a successful relationship because my arms are too skinny. Have you ever known anyone with skinny arms who's in a good relationship?"

"You look all soft and nice, and I look like a skinny old country western hag."

"The best thing in life is to not give a shit."

So go find a "girl" friend and play. It will do your heart good. Confess all, spare no detail, you are likely to find a fellow traveler down many a similar road. You may even find you can laugh at yourself. And ain't it grand!

other blog entries from Sarah Gayle Carter's journal