Girlfriend Getaway

Quote of the day: “Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” —Jane Howard

I had the good fortune this morning of sleeping in. After completing my first week back to work from a week and a half of vacation, it was much needed. To top it off, I woke up to the excitement of a mini Columbia Girls retreat.

(Note: The Columbia Girls is the name of my group of college girlfriends, which includes 12 fabulous women. We became known as The Columbia Girls because our junior year in college we all lived together in one very big house on Columbia Street. We would travel from party to party, or bar to bar, in one big, obvious pack. Our peers quickly dubbed us as “The Columbia Girls.”)

Today’s reunion brings just four of us together in Rochester, N.Y. Although we’ll miss the other 2/3 of our clan, we’ll surely enjoy the 1/3 we have.

In reading my morning musings, I came across the most perfect phrase of what I believe to be true and what I am working to accomplish through this blog/experiment. In my faithful book of truth, “Communion with God” by Neale Donald Walsch, he states:

“If your life is an experience of constant joy and total bliss, then you truly have it. This does not mean that your life is without the conditions that can cause pain, suffering, and disappointment. It does mean that you live in joy despite those conditions. Your experience had nothing to do with the conditions.”

This statement sums up everything I’ve been trying to express over the past week. It is the quintessential explanation of this blog, “Irrational Joy.” It clears away the illusion that living in joy and bliss equates to a pain-free life. On the contrary, it reiterates how crucial it is to be able to detach from the conditions in order to remain in a state of joy. To be able to live in such harmony, for me, requires the daily exercise of spiritual study and understanding, which is no different than any form of physical exercise. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

As with physical activity, some days you just need a longer run, bigger hike, or a challenging dance class. It’s the same with spiritual exercise. Some days you need more silence, study or a weekend with your girlfriends filled with excessive laughter, food and wine, and never-get-old stories.

Jane Howard is right when she says that everyone needs a clan. I’m incredibly thankful for mine.