I was recently reminded of a song that my friends and I listened to in high school by the Squeeze, Goodbye Girl. I hadn’t thought about the song in years, but it made me smile to remember those carefree times before college, before my accident and before my journey accelerated down the path it has taken. Yesterday as I gathered to say goodbye to a high school friend I was also reminded about how much I have forgotten, and yet how much has stayed the same.

Catching up with some of the women with whom I went to high school was refreshing: we are all living our lives along similar paths, despite the many different challenges and hardships we have faced over the years. And each of us has faced them: difficult pregnancies, difficult marriages, health issues and losing parents. But we remain strong while juggling the day-to-day tasks of our lives as wives, mothers, women. Those challenges are universal - and we women do them so well. Not that men can’t or don’t -because many do. But women find strength in each other, no matter how much time has passed since we’ve seen each other.

I am thankful for the women in my life whom I have met along my journey: grade school, high school, college and beyond. And I am thankful for the women with whom I recently reconnected, and for the comfort and strength we were able to provide each other.