~ Ya Ya's ~ Part One

Ya Yas’s: A group of three or more women whose hearts and souls are joined together by laughter and tears shared through the glorious journey of life.

I was out one afternoon, strolling through SteinMart and saw this on a pillow. My thoughts immediately went to a wonderful group of women who I’ve been fortunate enough to have in my life for a various number of years. I actually have two groups of Ya Ya’s in my life ~ the Pipettes and my girls from school. And yes, I'm blessed.

The Pipettes ~ I met this fabulous group of women for the first time about 10 years ago at a meeting in Florida that the kids and I got to go with KJ to. Because the kids were with us, I didn’t actually get to spend a significant amount of time with these women but over the years, I’ve come to love them, adore them, appreciate them and respect them.

Over the years, we’ve stayed a pretty tight knit bunch. It’s gone from seeing them to twice a year to talking on the phone, emailing, texting, etc. Sometimes, if it wasn’t for a few of these women (Debi & Terry), I don’t know what I would’ve done.

My most favorite memory with these women is the year we all went to Hawaii. KJ and I made a family vacation out of it and brought the kids along and next to the family vacation to England, it’s one of our most memorable family vacations.

Let me just set the scene for Hawaii and the birth of the “Pipettes” ~

Before this trip, we were in Oklahoma City for a board meeting. Some of us were at the bar next door to our hotel, the guys on one end of the table, the girls on the other. Pretty soon, as it usually does when we’re all together, the wine started to flow. We start talking about the Hawaii trip and how we should do something really fun. Now, you have to remember, the wine was flowing freely. Debra all of a sudden came up with the idea that the wives of the board members should be the entertainment at the big dinner.

Next thing we know, we all have CD’s with music on them and we’re all listening and singing the songs at the top of our lungs, trying to memorize the words to the songs.

We roped Lynsay into helping us once we got to Hawaii. Bless her heart ~ she was such a good sport. Can you imagine her, the dancer, trying to shape 6 grown women into some kind of dancing form in a couple of afternoons? All of this was supposed to done without the knowledge of our husbands but we couldn’t really keep it a secret. The only husband who didn’t know was Ed and God, the look on his face was priceless.

There we were, dancing to the tune of “Leader of The Pack.” We let everyone know that Gloria Gaynor wasn’t the only one who could “survive” and like Aretha Franklin, we stood up there and demanded “Respect.” The Pipettes were born.

These women have touched my heart and my soul. They have proven time and time again the true meaning of friendship.

These women ~ my Pipettes, my Ya Ya’s.

Debi, Terry, Debra, Karen, BK and Patti~ thank you for being you and for your unconditional love and support that you’ve always given me.

I love you ~