A letter from Jan 06, 2025

Dear Future Gals, Hello from the past :) I love using this website to write myself little notes throughout the year, picking a future send date so that each time I open one, it's a little wink and wave from the past. Last night we all met at Elly's for a 2025 mood board / collage night. Elly had homemade chili waiting for us when we arrived -- her living room lit by the glow of candles. Isa sat in a chair at the far side of the room, and I cozied in next to her on the floor. Pillows were used as seat cushions on the floor and blankets were shared across laps sitting on the couch. Elly lay a pile of sweaters on the coffee table, telling us to take our pick from the haul she pulled out of her closet. I grabbed a cream cardigan and immediately began to internally plan my next office outfit with it. Emily picked a blue sweater with compliments that it brought out her eyes. She went for a second sweater after a roomful of reassurance that it did, indeed, fit her just perfectly. We doted thank you's to Elly and went about the room exchanging stories from our holiday time away. Kelly arrived in the doorway and I hollered from the floor that I'd finally brought back the books she'd lent me too many months ago. As Kelly grabbed the books from the the shelf in the dining room, Emily asked if she could now borrow one. Kelly happily placed it in Em's lap and told her to return it whenever. We began another round of holiday stories -- where we'd each been for Christmas and what everyone did for New Year's. Eventually the chatter stopped for long enough for us to begin the task at hand: making these mood boards. Before diving in, we went around and shared our hopes for the year. Some of us sharing words, some reading poems, some confiding they'd never done this before, that they were apprehensive about the whole thing. We listened as each woman recounted her past year: joys and hardships, peaks and valleys. We clapped excitedly and prodded encouragement when resolutions and hopes and desires were vocalized for the new year ahead. We cut into old magazines and pasted on stickers and laid out our mood for 2025 across plain white cardstock, sending manifestations into our future lives for courage, boldness, joyful embrace, love, ebullience. It struck me, looking around the room, what a powerful force it is to find kinship with women. When we're making soup and sharing clothes and exchanging books, aren't we really just taking care of one another? When we're sharing that we'd like to eat more veggies and also grow deeper in our faith and set boundaries in relationships all in the same breath, we're saying: "Do you see me? Am I doing this okay?" And the answer is yes. We see each other. And we've gathered in a warm home with laughter and dreams and hands to hold; we're all going to be just fine.