(Jennifer's) The best part about marriage is that I know how to bring comfort to my husband, and he makes me laugh more than anyone I know. The girlfriends I have in my life allow me to do "girl things" that I wouldn't want to put on my family, and they let me vent and often tell me they'll pray (or pray on the spot!). They also retell me stories about their children that inspire me or give me understanding on the rough days. Today Andrew & Sierra's counselor at Discovery (Carmen) told me it takes 5 years to feel that a friendship is "deep." For those of you beginning anew, remember it takes time too! And, last but not least, the Lord is the only one who ALWAYS understands!!!!! 
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5
And now, the essay...
"I just finished taking an evening class. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.
At first everyone laughed, but he was serious. Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being.
Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely. 
Women do it all of the time.
We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym. There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends,we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to ourfriendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."
*from an online forward, author unknown
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