Welcome and thank you to our inaugural “Haute Guest,” the stunning Kate Merrill! As an anchor/reporter for WBZ TV Channel 4, Kate has become one of the most familiar and trusted faces on New England TV News. From her following post, it is clear the Massachusetts native also gets the “Haute Mama Movement.” Thanks Kate!
As I watch my two daughters navigate elementary and middle school, I’ve come to the conclusion that being a girl is hard, harder than I thought. It’s hard to learn to make friends and it’s hard to keep friends. There are the mean girls, the cool girls, the nice girls, the tough girls and add in hormones and it can be overwhelming. I don’t envy their road ahead…there I said it…I wouldn’t go back for anything. As a mom, I want to tell them how to handle everything so they have no pain, make no poor choices.
Pick the nice girls I’d say, not the popular or pretty ones. And if girls are really, really mean to you, run and don’t look back.
Four decades of both painful burns and beautiful successes has taught me well and I want to spare them, but I can’t.
They will learn, they will cry, they will love and they will be hurt. But, it’s in that heartache and pain, that they will learn the worth of a friend. It wasn’t until after College, in my twenties, that I made the most amazing discovery. I suddenly learned one day that the friends who were still by my side were the best gift of my childhood that I never expected.
Friends, your oldest and dearest, are worth their weight in fights and pain and stolen boyfriends. We make friends all the time, and new adult friends are amazing, some of my favorite people in the world, are new friends. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out how to pick them, what you are looking for, and what you expect of a friend.
But for the people who knew you since your childhood, there is just something special.
I have a group, a posse, a gang and I love them. Sure, I hated them too and sometimes I still get really mad at them. But, when I forget who I am, or what I’m really about, they remind me. They always tell me the truth and that’s ok, because I know they know me. My girlfriends know where the bodies are buried, and sometimes that’s a good thing.
There is just something about growing old, growing better, but holding hands with your youth. There is something magical about telling stories about your deceased father and having someone fill in the blanks. Or the time that boy played music outside your window in the middle of the night during a sleepover to get your attention…I mean who would believe that now?
My friend Kelly remembers. Kelly never forgets, she is the living scrapbook of my youth. Your old friends keep you in check when you start to wander, they steer you back and when you go another way, they make sure it’s your best direction and they cheer you on from a familiar place. Your old friends root you on, from a place of you and the history of your life.
Find the diamonds from your life and reconnect, keep them close, shine them and treasure them. I do that, and I make sure my daughters see, I make sure my daughters are paying close attention.
Childhood friends, the good ones, are priceless and worth the effort.
And one day when I’m long gone, my girls will tell stories about their crazy mother over a bottle of wine with their oldest and dearest, and they will help them to remember and fill in the blanks.
Kate Merrill, Anchor/Reporter WBZ TV
