Hi friends, welcome to Girls' Night.

If you've been feeling disconnected lately, like everyone else has their group of best friends and somehow you just don't, I want you to know you're not alone, and also this episode is for you.

The thing is that for some of us, it's that we used to have our people and things have changed. For others, it's that we've never quite had the kind of friendships that feel

like home, and the ache of that has become impossible

to ignore. There are so many reasons this happens, but here are just a few that I hear most often,

and maybe one of them will sound a little bit like you. So you love your single friends,

but they are still doing late night dinners while you're home putting your littles to bed.

Or maybe you love your

mom friends, but every time they start talking about preschool enrollment, you quietly scroll under the

table because you're just not there yet. You adore them, but your lives just don't line up the way

they used to. Or maybe your group chat used to buzz all day, and now it's gone quiet. One friend moved,

another got married, another started grad school. The rhythm you all had, coffee dates, movie nights,

spontaneous shopping runs, it just dissolved. You still care about each other, but it's not what

it once was, and you catch yourself thinking, I really thought we'd be friends forever. Or maybe your faith changed. Maybe their faith changed.

Maybe your politics or your priorities shifted, and suddenly the people who used to feel

like home now feel a little bit like strangers. You're standing in a place that once felt safe, but now it feels like you don't quite

belong there anymore.

Or maybe you're realizing that they're not quite as good of friends as you always thought

they were.

Maybe you're the only one reaching out, planning things, investing in the friendship.

It feels like a one-way street.

Or maybe every time you leave

...