The Power of a Few Strong Women

As I sat at my bridal shower surrounded by my closest friends—women from different seasons of my life, childhood besties, motherhood confidantes, soul sisters I found along the way—I was overwhelmed in the best way. Not by how many people were there, but by who was there. Women who have known me through every awkward stage, every heartbreak, every big dream, and every small mess. I looked around and realized something that felt like both a deep comfort and a quiet truth: I am not here because I have a lot of friends—I’m here because I have a few really good ones.

We grow up thinking we need a crowd to feel loved. Like friendship is a numbers game. But life teaches you otherwise. Life humbles you. It stretches you. And when it does, it’s not the loud circle that holds you up—it’s the handful of people who know your heart, who don’t flinch when you’re a mess, who answer when you call with no agenda or planned response only empathy and compassion.

I’ve watched my mom model this kind of friendship my entire life. She never needed a big social circle to feel fulfilled. But what she did have—she cherished and she kept. If you know Kathy Jo you know she LOVES HARD. She has the biggest kindest heart of anybody I’ve ever known. I remember her sitting at the kitchen table laughing with her best friends until late into the night, or jumping in the car to be there for someone at a moment’s notice, or making dinner for a friend who had lost someone. She watered those friendships like a garden, year after year after year. Not because it was easy, but because it mattered. And watching her pour into those few strong bonds showed me what it looks like to build something that lasts. Something real. Something worth protecting.

Now, as a woman, as a soon-to-be wife, I see how deeply those lessons are rooted in me. I don’t need a hundred bridesmaids. I don’t need a packed party. I need the ones who see all of me—the weird, the broken, the growing, the joyful—and love me right there. The ones who’ve already walked with me through so many chapters and are still here, showing up, growing with me.

And I hope that someday, my kids will see me doing the same. I hope they see me building a table with a few steady chairs, not chasing a stadium full of strangers. I hope they feel what I felt this weekend: the quiet, steady power of strong, lasting friendship. The kind that holds you up when life gets heavy. The kind that laughs with you until your stomach hurts. The kind that doesn’t fade when life gets messy.

Because in the end, it’s not about how many people you have around you. It’s about the few who stay close, who know your soul, and who choose to walk with you anyway. And that? That’s everything.