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An Ode To Girlfriends Everywhere!

Girlfriend, I adore you. Like, insanely, madly, infinitely, priceless diamond, cosmic shiny adore you. It’s crazy how much I adore you.

You told me to dump the chump.

I cut my bangs way too short before a job interview. You told me to wear a low cut blouse to distract from the nasty haircut. I got the job.

You’re happy for me. Always.

You remember. Everything. You’re the encyclopedia of…me.

You made the appointment for me. You waited in the car. We drove home in silence.

You make sure my burritos come with an extra side of sour cream, and you order pizzas with mushrooms only on half.

You took me to the coast when I needed it most.

When I thought the pain would kill me, you reminded me that I wouldn’t die of a broken heart.

You told that bastard to f*ck off so that I didn’t have to.

You drove the moving van. In your first trimester. While barfing at truck stops. You never once complained.

You very gently suggested that maybe one pair of shoulder pads was sufficient.

You called in sick for me when really, I was partying on the band’s bus headed for Buffalo.

You didn’t make me wear taffeta to your wedding.

You lent me $200 bucks that made all the difference between rent and groceries that month. You tucked it into my purse when I wasn’t looking to save me the humiliation.

You held my hand when I got my tattoos, and my wisdom teeth out, and my first really expensive pair of shoes.

You babysat so that I could be with my mother when she was dying.

You dared me and then said: if you don’t trust you, trust me.

My baby was two days old. You came over and scrubbed my kitchen floor, made a lemon loaf, and rocked the baby so that I could take a nap, but I didn’t sleep. Instead, you and I just stared at the baby on the bed, together.

You bring me trashy magazines and don’t judge me for loving them.

You coax me out of my own brain. Make me stop working and have fun. And you have no idea what I do for a living.

You are how I know the Uni-verse is real.

You are my heart honey. My harbor. My metric of faith. My fresh water source. My soul sherpa.

Girlfriend, I could not, would not do this without you.

Not ever.

You, girlfriend. You.

. . . . . .

###

Danielle LaPorte is the outspoken creator of The Desire Map, author of The Fire Starter Sessions (Random House/Crown), and co-creator of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. An inspirational speaker, former think tank exec and business strategist, she writes weekly at DanielleLaPorte.com, where over a million visitors have gone for her straight-up advice — a site that’s been deemed “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality”, and was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes.

You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter @daniellelaporte.

  • Sandy

    Just beautiful!

  • Manuelasilva41

    Anybody with a friend like that could live forever !!!! Love it !!! 

  • lindseyb3

    I wish I knew friendship like that

    • http://beyouliveyourdream.blogspot.com/ Sarah Noel

      Glad you responded that way b/c I was thinking the same thing. 
      Me too!

      • Courtenay

        Me three — brings tears of longing to my eyes.

  • Healer

    Danielle,

    Outstanding post. I am blessed to have friends like this cuz’ right now I really need them. I think that having people in your life that make you laugh is such great medicine.

    As a child of the Aquanet 80′s, I loved the shoulder pad comment!
    Peace & Love,
    Karen

  • http://www.facebook.com/piera.bonventre Piera Bonventre

    I’ve got a few of these precious souls in my life.  I call them my earth angels. The women in my life have been pivotal to my growth, and ability to keep on loving when it seemed the most impossible thing.  Thank you to my sisters.  God didn’t grant me siblings this lifetime, but you all make up for it a million fold.  Namaste

  • Dale Rogerson

    I’ve got tears in my eyes and can’t see right now!  Your girlfriend(s) are my sisters!  I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.  Love you Lisa and Tracy! 

    I was very lucky to have a very special friend who went way over and above but who, alas, is no longer walking this earth.  Love you, Roxanne!

  • Shelbyconnelly

    We might take our friends for granted when we are in the thickness of life……great post……I will call my favorite three and tell them how I feel about them……thank you! 

  • Kerrymcd

    Love that! That is exactly how I feel about my BFF!

  • Drew

    I may not be a Girl…. but this ROCKS! What a great way to show and express Love.. Beautifully given….Thank you Danielle!
    Love
    Drew

  • Eva Ponce

    Absolutely breathe taking .. take bow, well done :o ) – Love your work !!! Namaste my friend xox

  • Kpln_lk

    Love this!!! touched my heart and soul..

  • NewJackSweetie

    Wow!!  That was BEAUTIFUL!!!

  • Stacey

    I have a girlfriend just like that… my little sister. It’s a magical connection. I am convinced that she is beyond the shadow of a doubt my soul mate <3

  • Deecii

    I’m sending this to my girls right now!  

  • http://www.thedevalife.com/ Jasmin Fiore

    I’m crying now! Thanks! So perfect so true! I need to go hug my bestie!

  • LOVE

    LOVE this! :)  http://brokenfairytale2.blogspot.com

  • Carol Shannon

    Love this and I’m so appreciative to have several friends in this category!!!!!

  • JackieMcd

    Loved this so much.  I am blessed to have a group of girlfriends I shared my life with for over 30 years.  I wouldn’t be who I am without them. Girlfriends are forever.

  • Theresa

    My 3 sisters and 3 cousins will have our (almost 30th) annual weekend of bonding, this weekend.   We call it “SABBATICAL”.  It’s a gift we give ourselves, that makes us feel like we’ve been “in the INTENSIVE CARE UNIT” and have had diagnosis and intensive repair work done on our EMOTIONAL HEALTH.  This yearly “FREE”  group therapy session is a major source of understanding , sharing, finding VALUE, and maintaining  our own personal, emotional well-being.   We normally bring a small token we’ve made or found that HONORS or HUMORS a sabbatical moment, for each one.   I have way too many (humorous) gift ideas in my mind, every year, and have trouble choosing the PERFECT ONE.  I’ve completed “seven” of each hand-made gift “idea” in my head.  But, like most years,  I wasted my time in CREATIVE THOUGHT, and have little time left to Create what I thought about giving them. 
    Thank you for coming to my rescue!!!  Your PERSONAL MESSAGE came just in time to inspire me.  I’m going to attempt to print a message from my heart (in a short amount of time) that HONORS my “sabbatical sister FRIENDS”.  
    P.S.  I usually AIM for humorous emotional feedback, so wish me luck as I “quickly put into words”  a condensed message that shows them WHAT THEY MEAN TO ME.

  • Marlo

    Danielle, Your words are liquid gold to me……..they are forever perfect and spot on!  For this I am grateful – xoxo M

  • Dale Rogerson

    Weird…the posts below are from another of your articles!
    Anyway… LOVE this. Will definitely STOP the whole possibility thing and move on to the DONE thing! You rock!

  • thelindseyoneill

    YES, Danielle! Love this so much. I think we so often forget about the power of belief and conviction in aligning our souls’ wishes and dreams with the visualizations that accompany them. Thank you for the lovely reminder.

  • http://twitter.com/JosephineBila Josephine Bila

    I love Danielle’s voice on and offline. She’s just really freaking cool. Thanks for the tips! xo

  • http://www.facebook.com/maya.dion Maya Dion

    <3

  • http://www.linktoyourself.com/ Laura Jones | Link to Yourself

    Danielle, I love you. This article came just at the right time for me. I was feeling insecure, doubting that I will ever get anywhere with my website. I was trying to encourage myself by thinking that “yes, I will probably get 1000 subscribers eventually” or “yes, one day I will help people for a living… I hope.” Your article just refreshed me so much, and let me breathe a big sigh of relief. Yes, I know this is my destiny, and in an alternate universe I really have achieved all of my goals already. It’s time to get in touch with that and do some much-needed manifestation work. Thank you, thank you, thank you – from the bottom of my heart.

  • thelindseyoneill

    Amazing, Danielle! We often forget how powerful affirmative visualizations can be in making our soul’s dreams into our reality. Thanks for the reminder.

  • http://beyouliveyourdream.blogspot.com/ Sarah Noel

    *First of all, somebody at TDL needs to fix the fact that the 25 comments below are from Danielle’s LAST blog on here, NOT this one. I don’t know why they’re carrying over (it’s happened with other blogs as well, from time to time, on TDL).

    Ok, that being said, Danielle, I love this! It brought tears to my eyes and perspective into my life. It’s good to be reminded time and again that we ARE privileged. If my WORST complaint right now is I’m working too many hours at my job…. holy crap I’m lucky!

    Thanks! :)
    Sarah
    http://beyouliveyourdream.blogspot.com/2013/04/be-who-you-are-if-you-need-to-make.html

  • http://dyannebrown.com/ dyannebrown

    This is such a great post. I’m going to revisit it whenever I feel sorry for myself. Very powerful.

  • Steph | Vibrant Living Project

    I can’t get enough of Danielle and her wisdom–I’m in middle of the Fire Starter Sessions and it blows my mind over and over! It’s so easy to forget such simple things…

    • http://twitter.com/PaigeSauer Paige Sauer

      I loved The FireSS! I loved it even more once I bought the audio book. Something about HER reading it was magical!

  • Dale Rogerson

    Absolutely true. We are totally privileged and so many of us don’t appreciate it – until we lose one – or until we witness the dark side…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Susan-Huff/793705103 Susan Huff

    NOT sure you got my message, but PLEASE where do I find your web page again with the VIDEO -OH MY – that is real time!

  • Megan

    thanks danielle…i needed this.

    • LaTrisa Haynes

      Megan… it’s nice when the universe gives you what you need at the right time isn’t….

  • http://twitter.com/AgentBonello1 AgentBonello1

    I love Danielle LaPorte.

  • Marchella

    I just was thinking about that this morning, I was watching a Malaria third word country documentary last night. We are blessed to live in America although I daily encounter negativity about the states. Love this daily love. Ty

  • http://twitter.com/PaigeSauer Paige Sauer

    Love you, Danielle. Thank you for your never-ending light.

  • KarinPinter

    Beautiful and powerful, as always. Thank you.

  • http://www.facebook.com/niki.tripp Niki Tripp

    YES. THANK YOU tdl and Danielle for this. So many people wander through their lives blind to what they have, wondering why happiness only affects some and not them – happiness is a choice, and it starts with gratitude.

    • David McInnes

      so true and simply said. Well done Niki I have only reclaimed my happiness after two months of self emotional pain to which we are the only one to make this change. Blessed are the for freeing me as every post I read makes me smile that ever so slightly more.
      I hope the wind doesn’t change direction:)

  • http://twitter.com/BarefootEssence Barefoot Essence

    The timing on this could not be better. I love when the universe lines up and smacks me in the face. I generally think it’s lined up, but sometimes more prevalent.

    I had recently raised my hand to submit a food blog post for a ‘Food Bloggers Against Hunger’ initiative. I was thinking about what to include in my post – do I write a recipe about rice and beans and saving money at the store? Here I am sitting in my middle class world in my warm condo drinking licorice tea (true story) on my laptop ‘raising awareness’ for the hungry??!?!? What a waste of time and energy. Also, I don’t understand what it means to truly be hungry. When I’m hungry I eat, the end. I can presume that hungry people aren’t reading blogs to find out how to make their food stamps stretch further.

    I need to follow the advice you mention above and find appreciation through the darkness. Bingo! Thank you for the timely inspiration! And for the random inspiration you also provide me xoxoox

  • LaTrisa Haynes

    Thanks Danielle… Choosing gratitude rather than complaining are words to live by. Still learning and living. Love it!!!

  • Tracey Lynn

    OMG i got chills! Thank you Danielle for that reminder. Namaste.

  • http://twitter.com/PoeticStarChild Gorgeous Earthquake

    needed this. thank you.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005357473710 Johnny Walker

    hi good morning

  • Kara

    I can’t believe this was an article for day’s daily love; the universe is amazing I’m reminded again and again of! I almost posted yesterday after reading another article that we must appreciate we even have the chance to have a blog we can discuss and actually help each other with ‘love’ when love doesn’t seem to be there and when we could have been born with a hand that puts us in a dark place where the discussion of ‘love’ doesn’t even have time to exist. It isn’t in life that “no hand is a bad hand, it’s what you do with it” it is more like “the truth is, is some hands are worse than other hands and it is what you do with it; especially if your blessed with the means to do.” It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re in a dark place, so hard, but when you muster up the courage, you realize the taste goes away. Gratefulness comes with owning our lives and taking responsibility for what we are given responsibility of. Thank you!!!!

    • David McInnes

      simply beautiful!

  • BretAlanCebulla

    Sounds like Corporate Propaganda so we ignore their destruction of the economy.

  • anonymous

    I really like this post! its great. one thing i would like to put out there is what determines thats one persons suffering is greater than others? I really liked something Morgan Freeman, a man who is a descendant of slaves, said in an interview about racism… he said that “slavery is a choice”… what he meant by that is that you can only be treated as such if you allow yourself to be defined as such. Everyone has the ability to be in the moment and no one deserves to be defined by there circumstances, bad or good. We can all find peace in the present, and every single one of us deserves this. I do completely agree with this post, its just food for thought.
    As a descendant of holocaust survivors, I am always reminded to appreciate what I have, especially the opportunities my family has given me. All i am saying is that we shouldn’t define anyone by there present situation, they are so much more than that.

    • David McInnes

      He may have been a descendant of slaves yet is we were in that era and a slave as such, I believe it may be hard to choose to not be one as wherever slavery is evil people coincide with it and those types of people are merciless in many regards. The likelihood of been beaten to within a inch of your life, to be flogged repeatedly, to be shot for escaping and many other inhuman acts of pain and torture. It would be a very hard and unlikely chance of escape and survival for a slave. Until someone is in those shoes themselves I find it wrong to say as such especially with a subject as that as every human has the right of freedom and for that to be taken away and see what happens publicly to other slaves would stop most people in their tracks for the real “physical fear” thrust upon them constantly. We are all lucky there are people who stood up for their rights even when they paid the ultimate sacrifice for their beliefs. Martin Luther King was a prime example in America.
      P.S. I’m Australian.

      • anonymous

        absolutely! I apologize that this came across the wrong way, all i was trying to say is that no one is defined by their circumstances. It was a tasteless example, a better example would be the statement “I am divorced”, that may be your present situation, but you cannot be defined by it, unless you allow it. We are lucky and we do have an obligation to stand up for the rights of others and appreciate our circumstances. Yes, I cannot say that I have ever been in those peoples shoes and I would never EVER wish that upon anyone! I apologize again that this came across wrong.

        • David McInnes

          You didn’t come across the wrong way my TDL friend so need for an apology. It was just a “typo error:)” of an example as being a descendant of the holocaust you will have more insight than other’s including myself as I presume you have heard sad tales first hand? And are justified in what you say:) I still remember a ex’s grandfather who in WWII was a POW who survived “The Burma Railway” where if I remember correctly 50% of them died and he said to me “that was a walk in the park compared to Chang-hi Prison”. Every morning he said and closed his eyes with tears streaming down his face, I realised he was reliving it by telling me this, all the POW’s would outstretch their arms to the left and right of them and feel the man next to them and I asked why to which he replied “To see if they were alive today” as this was a daily ritual they all did. I asked him sincerely”how often did you feel no movement from thy neighbour” and he replied “I got lucky with one hand everyday”. I cried then as the other things that occurred are to graphic to mention on here and I was told later he never once spoke to anyone about the war. If you met this 87 year old man who still has a spring in his step literally, goes out on outings all the time as if in his 20′s, carries lollies in a pocket for women he never has met adore him, he only wears suits-outdated yes they maybe yet smart in dress sense they are and he is always happy and it shows any of us who haven’t been to war how good life is and how trivial our issues are in comparison.and if a man who has been in “hell” can life his life as he does everyday we all can! I’ve never told anyone that. I’m going to go and visit him tomorrow so thankyou.

  • Grish

    This is something my mother has raised is with. We grew up poor and if we complained about wearing the same two shirts to school over and over again, she said – be grateful you’re going to school and getting an education. It is one of the many things I’m eternally grateful to my mother for drilling into my essence. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words with us and reminding us of all the we are abundant in!

  • http://twitter.com/mbalifestyle The MBA Lifestyle

    Those with less smile often because they are blessed to know the true beauties in life!

    •Wonderful piece!

  • ter45

    LOOOOL Well I happen to NOT be from Western world so…. what do I do here while you celebrate? Hang myself?

  • Arynetta

    Danielle LaPorte, you epitomize love & light.