Framily Getaway

“I’m very happy,” is exactly how you want to feel after a getaway and that’s when you know it was done right. The “camaraderie” between my friends has turned us into family, thus creating our first Framily Getaway at the Lake. I’m blessed to have a group of friends that have been friends for over a decade, for some of us over two decades. It’s beautiful how friends can become the family you choose.

In a way the trip was like a retreat. The fact that we were in a town with very limited entertainment options kept us on the property enjoying each other. There were plenty of places in the backyard, on the dock, and in the lake where we could sit alone with our thoughts. I believe every person had a “reflective” moment where they could take a deep breath, breathe in the fresh spring water of Lake St. George and just feel at peace. It was therapeutic for our mental health, we may not have known it before but it was something “much needed.”

I’m going to be honest, before the trip I had a little anxiety about staying in the house for a weekend with 17 other people. That’s a lot of personality for me, but I was forgetting that these people are more like family and being with them was nourishing to my soul and “rejuvenating”. Anytime I needed a moment to myself, I found it but the best times were the conversations and experiences I had with the fram.

There were “very memorable moments”, from chilling on the floats and kayaks in the lake, to telling interesting things about ourselves around the fire, to a thinking exercise that really gave us better insight on ourselves, our relationships and our stress. The sharing and the openness between each other was “heartfelt.” Those moments were “refreshing, fun, enlightening” and at times “nostalgic” talking about old memories.

The theme for the weekend was “relaxing”. No one was feeling the stress of time and I think that “united” us in a way to feel more “carefree and blissful”. At the end of the day “shit was lit” and there were “hella good vibes”. It was something that makes me feel very grateful to have a community of friends like I do and to forever have that “companionship.”

As a mom, it can be really easy to fall into mom life all the time and rarely revisit who you were before you became a mother and/or wife. The framily getaway brought me back to just being Amber. It was me being responsible for just me. My husband was there too, but because we were friends with everyone before we were ever intimate, it was simple. It felt like the beginning of our relationship, flirty and free and it brought us closer together. When I came home to my kids, I was excited to see them and happy to be back to them. I feel like I can give them a better version of me, because I got the time to do me. Life can take unexpected turns and if the opportunity comes up to just be yourself with a group of people you love take advantage of that. Give your mind the peace it deserves and be happy.