Girlfriends and Sugar Gliders

While growing up, and even into my adulthood, I preferred my male friends' company to my female friends. These weren't "boyfriends" just fun guys. I thought that girls were often too emotional and competitive. It was fun to just hang with the guys.

I seemed to always have one or two female friends and that was it. Then I had some really great roommates in college - particularly in the 94-95 year. These girls were easy and fun and supportive. It was great! (This is a picture of the four of us at my wedding shower)

Then Charlotte and I became roommates and it was fabulous because we were both done with school and working in our professions and enjoying life. We endured the good and bad of "advanced single-ness" together. Still, I didn't really have a group of women with whom I could really enjoy the good times and mourn the bad. When Charlotte had other plans, I was pretty much alone. It was unwise of me to not branch out more.

Then one day I was talking with a work associate, "S", and she was sharing similar feelings. We decided to form a lunch group of like-women: not married, working professionals, no children. So we invited K and JK to join us and the Sugar-Gliders were born. (We called ourselves the sugar-gliders because JK told us a really funny story about an English grad student who brought a sugar glider to a staff meeting.) Eventually I decided to invite Charlotte and a couple of her Opera work associates to join our monthly luncheons. (Ironically, S never came after the first luncheon.)

These women became the cheerleaders, the shoulders to cry on, and the people with whom I could just hang. Eventually, JL and B were added too. Then Charlotte started going to T's house every week to watch American Idol. I thought that show sounded mean and like a waste of time but I was going through a rough time at work and needed something to tear me away from the 17 hour days I was working so I started to go to T's every Wednesday. B and D were there too! We all brought our own dinner and most of us brought our crocheting and it was much less about the Idol and much more about the fun, the laughs (BIG time about the laughs) and the support.

I love these women! T has moved back to TX, I'm in AL, Charlotte got married, JK moved to WA and D moved to Provo. I think the others are still getting together for lunch. We still get together when I'm in UT and there are still phone calls (thanks for the call the other night B) and emails. Although the dynamic has certainly changed, the bond is there and I so appreciate the friendship of these women. I'm glad I decided to do something about my loneliness. I'm glad I found the Sugar Glider women!

Some of our lunches -
JL, me, Char, T, K:

Me, T, JK:

B:

K, D, and Char:


Thanks Sugar Gliders!