Four

One of the biggest fears holding me back from starting the Mighty Girlfriends’ Club was the nagging voice in my head that kept questioning, “What if no one shows up?”

No one wants to be the only one at their own party.

I decided that, to check this item off my Mighty Life List, I was going to have to take a leap of faith. “Whoever shows up is exactly who was supposed to be there at the start,” I told myself. And then I promised myself not to obsess over the guest list.

That lasted until about 2:00 yesterday when I received my third cancellation phone call for the day. I tried to keep myself busy all day so as to not worry. But, by 6:00, I was physically sick with worry that no one was going to show up. I forced myself to keep going…

“Whoever shows up is exactly who was supposed to be there at the start.”

I showered, got ready, gathered the gifts I had made for my Mighty Girlfriends, copies of the Ground Rules I had created, my “official” Mighty Girlfriends’ Club notebook and drove off to the restaurant. “Here goes nothing,” I said to myself as I pulled out of the driveway.

“Whoever shows up is exactly who was supposed to be there at the start.”

I pulled into the restaurant parking lot and didn’t recognize a single car. I’m not good at waiting places by myself – I always arrange to arrive with someone or late so I’m not sitting around by myself. But to check an item off your Mighty Life List you have to step outside of your comfort zone. My plan of attack was to wait in the bar with a nice Cabernet until someone else arrived.

If they arrived, that is.

As I started walking into the restaurant I saw the sweetest sight I’ve ever seen – Julie’s red SUV pulling into the parking lot. Thank the sweet baby bejeebus, I thought to myself. Someone is coming to my party!

As the waitress seated us I told her, “Could just be the two of us – could be up to eight. Don’t really know.” The waitress was kind and, luckily, the restaurant wasn’t very crowded. She set us up for a table of eight and told me it was no big deal.

Eventually Karen joined us. She had been a last-minute invite – a colleague I don’t get to see much of, but admire greatly. Our paths happen to cross one night last week as we both worked late. We chatted briefly about some professional/personal development “stuff” we were both working on as part of a High Performers group at the office. I brought up the club. She told me she was in a few days later.

Twenty minutes or so later Sandie arrived. It was then that I fully started to relax and just enjoy the moment. “Four – that’s a respectable number,” I thought to myself. A colleague, one of my best friends, my work out buddy, and me. It was a good start.

It was a GREAT start, a MIGHTY start. It was the start.

We’re a club.

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