ON FRIENDSHIP…..

Friends.

Fabulous, marvelous,  juicy and fierce……utterly magnificent, inseparable friends.

We all have them.  

Thank goodness!

Friends we cherish.  Women we adore.

For me, it is simple.

I cannot imagine life without friends…the ‘girls’ who rock my world.

They are as essential as breath.

A crucial, life-giving force.

A delight.  A necessity.  A cherished gift.

Deliriously delicious!

Almost an obsession.

An assortment of types….like a box of truffles!

Tall or short….full-figured and thin;  active, sedate, energetic and calm.

Single, married, divorced and widowed…some with children….and some without.  Young or gray-haired.  Working or retired.  Sisters and aunts….mothers and step-mom’s….and ecstatic, heaven blessed, ‘nana’s and grandma’s’.

Stoically serious…..or playful as a box of kittens.

Successful, self-reliant….at home and at work….all a formidable force to be reckoned with.

You are Black and Asian, Brown and White.

You are new to me……or you span decades.

You are straight, lesbian, transgender….and bi;  flighty, grounded, outrageous and centered.

You are religious and spiritual, agnostic and atheist……Buddhist, Unitarian, Christian and Jew.

You are beautiful, extraordinary, plain and fancy.  Bold and timid, assertive and passive.  Wonderfully extroverted or gorgeously introspective….contemplative, content, curious and caring.

You face challenge and loss, unimaginable grief…..with dignity, courage….awe-inspiring grace.

You have my back, calm my angst, soothe my heart when it shatters….when aching for comfort, you nourish my soul.

You have means, you have little…regardless, you share.

Politically like me…. and unlike me, as well….conservative, liberal, socialist, and independent.  Somewhat indifferent, totally uninterested, or deeply involved….you bring gentleness to the world….you promote peace….encourage harmony….and liberally exude love.

From you I learn, from you I grow.

You model what I need to know.

When I have a secret to share, it is you I tell.

For honest, direct feedback….I turn to you.

Daring to be wild….or totally outrageous?  It is you I think of…. it is you I call.

When I seek deep…and shallow….you are it!

When play and laughter is what I need, it is with you that I can feel young again.

For escape and diversion….you and I will connect.

Want intellectual stimulation, political discussion?  You and you and you ….I seek.

Craving pure love, unbridled joy….I know where to find it….and you, my friend, I know will provide.

When I am at the edge…flailing and raw….you are my go to, my angel, my spirit guide.

When I am lost, untethered….you show me the way.

Seeking strength and courage?  Optimism and hope?  I can count on you to put me on course.

When I was alone, afraid, my world collapsing…..you held my hand, you taught me to ‘walk’.  In the throes of despair, searching for solace….you suggested I meditate, reminded me to breathe.

When I thirst for authenticity….for guidance, for wisdom, encouragement, direction….a safe space in which to be vulnerable and real….I sit in your circle, the circle of women, immersed in your loving compassion and care.

When I celebrate, when I question, when I collapse or cry….at my best or hopeless worst….you are there.  Always near.

Always…in all ways…always right there.

You were there:

when I first drew with crayons, when I first learned to write;  when I maneuvered the pitfalls and challenges of adolescence,  my first break up, first heartbreak, first pimple, first period;  when I married, gave birth, divorced…and remarried.  When my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimers….when my Dad took his last breath.

My rock, my anchor, playmate and confidante…guide and coach….you are all of these.

I envy, I emulate….I admire, I adore.

I hold you always in the highest esteem.

My mothers…..my sisters.  

My family.

My world.

Grateful, beholden, beyond blessed to have found you….

women who complete me,

who sparkle 

like jewels.

 

I have them….

you have them….

who are YOUR dazzling, treasured, most precious of friends…..?

 Today is National Girlfriends Day.…take a moment….to let them know….

…..I just did