My girlfriends, my therapists, my personal stylists, my living diaries, my sisters by other misters, and most recently, my bridesmaids! This letter (blog) is for you.
I hope that each of you realize how much you each mean to me as individuals and how deeply I cherish our friendship. As I think about my bridesmaids, I think about who I am and how I feel when we are spending quality time together. And I LOVE the person I am when we’re together – natural, fun, easy. We don’t require a well-planned out agenda to have a great time, but we know there has to be quality food or desserts involved. We don’t need to make an effort to dress up when we’re together, yet we’ll still compliment on how great we look. We don’t need a reason to FaceTime each other, but when we do, we find ourselves catching up for hours, talking until one of our battery runs out.
Each friendship is encapsulated by their own stories and I can laugh just thinking through the drunken nights when we made stupid decisions (& we’d do it again), I can cry thinking about the times we’ve opened up and shared secrets in ways that we’ve never done before, and I can smile thinking about how much we all have grown up together and I can smile even harder realizing that this is still only the beginning.
You each have taught me the true meaning of friendship over the years, whether you’ve been in my life for 28 years, 10 years, 5 years. And over these years, our fashion trends and hairstyles have changed (thankfully), the quality of our photos have changed, our life experiences and life perspectives have changed … but your friendships has remained the best constants.
Thank you for being in my life.
Thank you for traveling around the states & world with me – one (missed) flight at a time. Thank you for always having a hair tie ready and rubbing my back after the nights at the club. Thank you for your never-ending support and advice as I navigate and continue to grow in my professional life. Thank you for listening to me as I cried about some of my hardest life moments. Thank you for always getting dessert with me when we’re full af. Thank you for the years of free makeup tutorials and hand-me-down clothes. Thank you for all the nights we’ve stayed up all night talking about everything under the moon. Thank you for being the sisters I’ve never had.
And thank you for loving Thomas as much as you love me.
Now, I’m getting married and I’m ready! I’m the best version of myself thanks to all of you girls. Over the years, whether you’ve realized it or not, you’ve all taught me so much. You’ve taught me self-love and putting myself first without guilt. You’ve proved that confidence and empowering others can and should come hand in hand. You’ve taught me that it’s a waste of time and energy to chase perfection. You’ve taught me that with real life comes real challenges, but after some girl talk and Hennessy (or Tequila), we’ll get through it.
Ya’ know I can’t say ‘I do’ without you!
And luckily for us, there are lots of fun to be had in the months leading up to my big day .. ahem #bach. So get your party fits ready and refill your cosmetic & toiletry bags – cause we’re going to be dancing on tables, overtipping bartenders, laughing til’ we cry, and taking lots of blurry, questionable videos.
To sum it all up … the best part of my journey is I get to have you girls right by my side and I can’t wait to continue to make memories. I love you all so much!
Love, Shay
TSIN says
Great content