"Mom! There's a man on the phone ...!"

Last night was the first meeting for a women's small group based out of my church Mosaic. I'd been looking forward to it all week, although I must admit, it was almost like the first day of school, met with fair amounts of intrepidation and insecurity. I've always had more male friends than female friends and, in general, just found interacting with men a whole lot less hassle free. However, the close female friends that I do have I cherish very much. (You all know who you are, woot!)

Inevitably, as close as you can get to a guy, it turns funky some way, somehow if you have no romantic intentions. I've been fortunate that not all my male-relationships turn out that way, but I must admit that there was always an accompanying pang of loss when they found their girlfriend/spouse. One of my male friends has expressed how left out he feels in my life now that C and I are together. He doesn't mean anything more than that, I know. And I understand how he feels - there is a natural emotional attachment that men and women have towards each other, I suppose.

Anyhow, our women's study last night was GREAT. There are some things that I feel like I'm neurotic over, but I realized last night, there were also other women who felt the same way! Within the first few minutes, someone felt safe enough to cry, and I applaud her for that. It paved the way for more honesty. We're studying Beth Moore's Breaking Free.

Leading the group was our pastor's wife, Kim. She was exceptionally gentle and a wonderful leader.

Towards the end of the study, she said in her slight-Southern drawl, "Michelle, you know you have a wonderful boyfriend!" (And of course all the ladies started listening). "You know, he called me today."

"What! Chris did?"

"My daughter picked up the phone and she yelled to me, 'Mom! There's a man on the phone who wants to join your women's study!'"

I had to bury my head in laughter. It just sounded very much like a Chris-situation.

"Yup, he wanted me to know you were coming and just wanted to make sure you felt at home," she beamed. "Isn't that so sweet of him?"

All the girls - as you could imagine - cooed,"Awww." I felt very special.

C, you are awesome. Thank you for taking that one small step to do something so significant and honoring to me. However, sorry, you can't come to the women's study! :)

[Unless you're gay (here we are, back to the gay thing), cos there was apparently a gay guy in the women's study last time!]