I’m cleaning up after book club, and I’ve got to say: it was such a success.
Seriously. It couldn’t have gone any better.
We celebrated two birthdays. I got each birthday girl half a cake, which was so fun, and we got to surprise them. We heard about wedding planning. We caught up. We laughed.
And I kept thinking about how much I love this group of women.
Because everybody has something going on.
Everybody.
Someone is grieving a parent. Someone is planning a wedding. Someone is packing up a store. There are health worries, family worries, and big, beautiful milestones—like becoming an American citizen.
And I just had a car stolen.
I didn’t even tell them about that. It didn’t even come up.
We are all living these big, full lives, with all kinds of things happening. But once a month, we find the time to get together.
If you’ve read the book, come.
If you haven’t read the book, come.
We get together, and we love on each other. We give each other support. We hold each other up.
Women supporting women. Women loving women.
There is something about being surrounded by women who understand you. We are strong. We can handle so much. We’re freaking women. But we still need other women to hold us up, to share our experiences with, to grieve with.
One of the women had been on the fence about coming after losing her dad. When she got there, I was just so glad she had come.
That’s what book club feels like to me.
I know I’m being held by a whole group of women.
They embrace me. They hold me. And, oh my gosh, we laugh.
Melissa tells this story about her son Skylar when he was little. He said, “I think all y’all do at book club is laugh.”
“You should call it Laugh Club.”
And we should.
Because we laugh. We have a good time. We cry. We feel each other’s emotions. We see each other through hardships.
We’ve watched each other’s kids grow up. We’ve been there through parents passing and through loving and losing animals. We’ve seen each other through so many things.
Everyone brings something different. Everyone brings something beautiful to the table.
There is not a thing I would change about my book club.
I love every woman in that damn club. Every one of them. All so unique.
I look forward to it every month. The laughter, the support, the chance to be together.
At first, we came together for the book. Now we come together for each other.
