where are the girls?

I have come from an environment at RTS where there was so much camaraderie that I would find my cup overflowing with fellowship. A closet introvert, I would need to schedule time to be alone during that season. I was hardly in want of a friendship where I could feel loved, accepted, heard, and understood. I still have a lot of those friends but they have moved or have gotten busy with life (including myself). I feel a bit of a hole in that place now because I don't get to see these friends regularly. I miss the conversation. I miss the security of knowing that these folks know exactly where I am coming from. I talked to my friend, Jenny, the other day and she expressed a similar sentiment--that friendships that started after RTS and the marriage and family therapy program are not the same as the mft buddies we've made. I'm sure that's life--transitioning into different relationships--but there is a quality in these "old" friendships that I want to recreate, though I don't know how to pinpoint what it is or how to muster it up. Maybe it is that these folks being trained and particularly gifted in handling people carefully are safer to me, or that we are bonded and joined by the same information we've learned about communication, people, and the rampant effects of sin.

Also, I've noticed that marriage doesn't really lend itself to girl time. Or maybe that my girlfriends and I haven't planned any. I have my prayer group and though that is time well spent sharing one another's joys and trials it isn't "fun". Is it possible? I think so. Maybe just less frequent than it should be in an ideal world. No husband can substitute the hearty goodness of a bunch of girls hanging out. I miss it.