My GNO Angels

I’ve written a lot this year about friends and family who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help me through some dark days.  No one has done more for me, though, than my GNO angels.  God bless our friend who finally brought us together over fourteen years ago.  I feel like I’ve known them and loved them forever—whatever did I do before they arrived in my life, bringing laughter and fun with them?!

As I was growing up, my mom always poo-poohed the idea of female friends.  Her best friends were her mom and her sisters and she didn’t see the need for any outside sustenance.  Now, don’t get me wrong, my mom and my beyond-wonderful sister ARE my very best friends in the world, but that doesn’t mean that a different set of eyes and ears aren’t necessary, not to mention a different set of hugging arms.  Maybe all those practice-friends of the past, the ones my mother didn’t approve of, prepared me for the wonderfulness of my darling Coterie and my GNO angels.  Perhaps they taught me how to be a better friend and to deserve these wonderful people’s love and support. 

My gal pals reign supreme.  We’ve laughed, we’ve cried; we’ve gossiped, we’ve railed.  We even bonded over disliking the same overrated performers.  They brighten my world like no others can.  They’ve listened to me be scared, be stupid, be depressed.  They’ve waited in waiting rooms for me to finish with doctors or surgeries; they’ve paid for prescriptions and office visit co-pays; they’ve helped me get dressed and tied my shoes.  They’ve roamed the halls looking for nurses and/or doctors to help me.  They’ve been the point people, talking to my family and other friends with updates.  They handled nearly everything about the fire—insurance paperwork, cleaners, inspections.  They’ve listened and considered and counseled.  They’ve seen me at my absolute worst and love me anyway.  There is no way I can ever repay their steadfast and unconditional support. 

My mom finally, I think, understood the love I have for my friends, and the love they have for me, when she was here last February.  She was touched by their help and dedication, and by their love and respect for her by virtue of being my mom.  I love her, therefore, they did too.  So, after living in New York off and on for over twenty years, my mother FINALLY allows me to call this “home,” because she knows I have another family here.  Not by blood, but by choice.  Which runs just as deep.

AND, to keep from being too maudlin (too late!), hello, my GNO angels and I won a game show!  The GNO World Tour began in Italy in 2007 and must continue in 2012!  Where should we go next?!  It doesn’t matter where we go, though, there will be laughter, joy and fun, wherever these beautiful women are.  They can’t help it—that’s just who they are.  My angels.