One of my most favorite scenes in all of Sex and the City is when Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha are sitting in the coffee shop and Charlotte declares, "Why can't we be each other's soulmates and just have fun with men?" I love this sentiment! If you're lucky enough to have a circle of friends you can count on when the going gets tough and to celebrate the good times with you, you know then, the sisterhood of girlfriends is simply magical.

Daily I think about this amazing sisterhood of women I am experiencing all around. Every day in every way. If you are fortunate, (and I count myself lucky in this respect) you have incredible women all around you that you consider to be your people, your posse. Women you count on. Women you enjoy. Women you see on a daily basis. Women you make an effort to catch up with. Women, maybe, that you only e-mail with. They are the women that you count on and look forward to seeing and being with.

In the movie Mean Girls, Tina Fey has this great line, "if we call one another names, we give men the right to do the same thing. We have to treat one another with respect." We have the right and obligation to really go out of our way to be a good friend, a trusted friend, a friend maybe just for chocolate, shopping or walking. We also have the responsibility to ourselves to be the best friend we are capable of being. Whatever that means at the time and whatever we can offer.

As I move through my daily life, I also realize that I am raising my children with my girlfriends. So, often we compare stories, confirm myths and, most of all, run something by a friend. You know, just to make sure we are on track; that things are "normal." I trust this informal network more than any book or lecture on raising kids, because we are all here in the trenches together.

Gratefully, I've learned so much over the years from my girlfriends. I smile when I think of this because I can easily imagine my grandmother saying the same thing. When I had Jessie, my grandmother was astonished at the number of friends who brought our family dinner and who came to check in on us. We smiled together when I said, "girlfriends!" I can only hope that Jessie will have these same experiences in her life.

From all of my amazing girlfriends, people, posse and Dancing Queens, I know the following is true:

Girlfriends believe in you. Girlfriends never judge you. Girlfriends teach you how to make yourself feel important. Girlfriends listen. Girlfriends nurture you and laugh with you and giggle at you. Girlfriends offer you arms to fall apart in and arms to hug you. Girlfriends ask you HOW YOU ARE and really want the answer. Girlfriends KNOW what is going on in your world and still manage to make you laugh about it. Girlfriends offer shelter and tears and laughter and chocolate and a fun evening out. Girlfriends tell you if your jeans look great or just okay. Girlfriends will meet you in the last place you can ever imagine. Girlfriends will celebrate the special and the everyday with you. Girlfriends will DANCE DANCE DANCE with you. Girlfriends will let you squish into their first-row Bruce Springsteen seats and share the space with you. Girlfriends will travel with you. Girlfriends encourage you to follow your hopes and dreams … wherever they may take you. Girlfriends will be there with you and for you. A girlfriend is never further away than needing her can reach.

In this sisterhood of girlfriends... there is no place I'd rather be.

Pam Wilson lives in suburbia, and while she has no idea how she wound up there, is enjoying the journey. She has a 12-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. Pam has a bachelor's in family and child development and a master's in social work. She is an outdoor girl, an avid reader, enjoys biking and baking, loves to hang out with friends and has determined that chocolate can indeed solve most of life's problems.