Quick: when was the last time you had a really long talk with a dear friend?
I figured as much.
Yes, yes, I know. Soccer practice and vet appointments and conference calls and car washes and mountains of laundry and empty milk cartons and permission slips and haircuts.
I get it.
So the other night, I did something new. Instead of trying to find time for an evening out, I invited my friend, Julie over for an evening in. My husband was out of town and I was manning the fort with our two sons.
Julie showed up around 7, already fed, having left her kids and husband at home. She quizzed my boys briefly about school and sports and then they went off to sleep. Then she and I sat in my living room, lit some candles, opened a bottle of wine, and talked for hours.
No music playing.
No waiters interrupting.
No sitter to pay at the end.
It was glorious. One of the best evenings I’ve had in years. I realized how much we edit – either because the kids stop us mid-sentence or because our husbands are around and we don’t want to get too deep during a fun couples night out. But wow – there’s just so much to say. And to hear. And to realize.
Here’s the clincher: it was so very doable to pull off. It left me wondering... “why didn’t I think of this sooner?!”
That said, I’ll close with a slightly different question: when’s the next time you’ll have a really long talk with a dear friend? Tonight perhaps.
