I’m trying to remember the last time, prior to this weekend, that I spent an entire weekend relaxing and not worrying about work or chores or errands. I’m trying to remember the last time I left my phone, on purpose, in another room for nine hours and didn’t wonder if I had any new text messages. I’m trying to remember these things, because to be honest, they happen much too infrequently. But this weekend I got to do all of the above, with eight other lovelies that I’ve known for seven years.

After college, the people you have called your second family for four years usually scatter and go about their own businesses in different cities/states/countries. This did happen with my particular group of friends — a lot of us are still in Pennsylvania but many are still a good drive apart — but we have somehow managed to stay close, routinely setting time aside to get together and catch up. Not everyone can just jump right back into a group and feel as if not a day has passed since they last saw each other; there’s a little thing called life that likes to change people’s perspectives and experiences and ruin that for them. Call it luck, or call it earnesty, but we’ve always been able to jump back in.

I am very appreciative of my college friends. They are some of the most genuine, open, weird individuals.

This weekend, we went to the Poconos and holed ourselves up in a rented house, playing games and enjoying each other’s company. At the end of our last night, we organically decided that we would go around the room and tell each person what we liked about them. It took maybe 2 hours to get through 9 people.

It was incredible to be able to look at the group collectively and then pick out what each individual brought to it, to strengthen it and support it. There has been a lot of growth in this friend group over the past seven years, each person on their own journey but still somehow coinciding with our each other.

As we went around the circle, I began to realize a lot of things that maybe I had known, but never thoroughly understood, about my friends — and about myself. It’s so weird to hear who you are as perceived by others, because most of the time you only hear your side of the story.

It sounds a little self-indulging for a group of people to sit in a circle and compliment each other, but sometimes it’s greatly needed. Reflection can be a really rejuvenating activity, because it shakes you out of your routine and forces you to really focus on what’s in front of you.

If you’ve never told your friends just what exactly you love about them, I recommend giving it a try. It’s refreshing.