Missy, formerly of my editorial staff, and her buddies at a Friday Night Girl's craft gathering.
Women in Ghana gather in friendship to do each other's hair, some much needed "self care" that is often missing from their work-filled lives.
It’s Friday Night Girls! How many times have you heard me say that, shout that, on the air?
Friday Night Girls nights are a time for women to slow down, to stop doing things that are “expected” of them and do things they love to do with their best friends, their daughters, and sisters.
Women often time spend most of their energy caring for their families, their employers or employees, their partners or spouses, and on Friday’s I want you to take care of yourselves by connecting with the women that you love and can relate to!
In other cultures and other times through out history, women were given opportunities to connect on a deep level with mother’s and daughters, sisters, and best friends.
In Ghana, where I work, women gather the water together early in the mornings. They stand in line and do one another’s hair while they wait for the pumping station to fill their plastic jugs which they carry back to their homes on their heads. They walk together to the well or the stream to gather water and as they walk they talk and catch up on thoughts and feelings.
There is a bond that is palpable when you come upon a gathering of women pounding cassava into flour for fufu - a rhythmic ritual for centuries. They sing, and sway, and talk, and connect on a deep level; I feel as if I am standing on sacred ground when I see mothers and their daughters working together, singing together, walking together.
In our society we have to carve out time to connect with our best friends, our grown daughters and sisters. We are so busy that these times of connecting get lost in the busy-ness of our daily lives. Friday nights are for slowing down. Connecting. Crying. Sharing. Laughing. Praying.
For some people their “sisterhood” is a book club or a sorority they belong to, a 12-step or a cancer support group. For others it’s high school friends, who by now have become parents and grandparents. Women with whom we have shared not just a team mascot many decades ago, but a history of love and laughter and loss…
We don’t want to discourage our men from joining us on Friday nights, but the goal is to encourage women to get together with their sisters and friends, either in person or virtually via the radio, and connect heart to heart. Encourage one another, share a good book, a great movie or an old joke that you never tire of!
And, of course I want you to share the Delilah show; I hope to be the bridge between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends for many more years to come! We try to keep it fun on Friday’s.
Do it. Live it. Love it. Call it in. Tweet it. Instagram it. Facebook it. #FNG!
Come on in. Share your support, encouragement, and understanding of one another. It’s Friday Night Girls!