...just the perfect blendship...

If you're ever in a jam, here I am.

If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S.

If you're so happy, you land in jail. I'm your bail.

It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.

Cole Porter

"Flahertys Final Folly" on a NC mountainside.

I'm here by myself today while Helen DePrima’s off on a mountaintop in North Carolina, but it doesn’t hurt us to give each other a month off now and then. That’s what friends do, and although I’ve never met most of the Heartwarming Sisterhood—Helen included—we are friends.

Friendship. What a big, important word that is.

On Facebook, author Cheryl Reavis  got me going on this subject by posting this:

Conversation with a long ago nursing school classmate:

She: I'm embarrassed by some of the things I did in school.
Me: Why?
She: Because they were so silly.
Me: Like what?
She: I rode around on a broom singing "Goodbye, Old Paint." I felt like people were looking down on me.
Me: Well, there is absolutely no way I could have been looking down on you.
She: Why not?
Me: Because I was riding the other broom.

I told this to the DH, who was, for some reason, astounded by this heretofore unheard of episode of broom-riding. Why, I do not know, because Roy Rogers. But I told him: "Every morning we worked on the floor knee deep in sickness, suffering, and death. Then we went to class to hear lectures about sickness, suffering, and death. THEN, in the evening, we had two hours of ENFORCED "closed study" for more immersion in sickness, suffering, death." And all that has to go somewhere if you're going to survive. I took mine for a ride. On a broom. The irony here is that TPTB were constantly telling us that we were so much more mature than the previous class. 

(It must be noted here that Cheryl loves all things Roy Rogers. I'm not sure whether it's a blessing or an affliction, but... - Liz)

I loved this story, so I asked around for others. Tara Randel sent me this about enduring friendship: 

When I finally made the decision to pursue writing, I found my local RWA chapter and began attending meetings. I joined the chapter soon after and started to make friends within the organization. A few months later, I chatted with a woman who had recently moved to the area. We clicked immediately and before we knew it, we were carpooling to different writing events and conferences. We were both actively submitting our works-in-progress and learning from industry speakers who visited our chapter. Soon, we became critique partners, celebrated when we received “the call” and became published authors. Twenty-five years later, we’re still working together.

Along the way, life happened. When we first met, my daughters were very young and she had her son a few years later, so we had the joy of watching our children grow into successful adults. She was one of the first people I called after my oldest daughter passed away. We still attend RWA conferences together. Although our paths have taken us in different directions lately, we still meet for lunch and talk on the phone. Meeting my good friend Kimberley Llewellyn has been one of the greatest joys of my life and I owe it all to the dream of becoming an author.

I love when friendship endures. I have friends from first grade, others that I worked with for 30 years and still spend time with. I have writing friends with whom I've been able to share conversations no one else would have the patience for. I have the best friend I've been married to for over two-thirds of our lives and--even on the days I would trade him in for someone willing to do the dusting--he's still my hero.

Author and friend Kristina Knight says this:

Friendship - the real thing, not the surface thing - takes a lot of hard work and effort. It's being willing to give the hard advice, and to take it. Being available for drinks to celebrate or commiserate. I found this picture of Pinterest a couple of years ago, and I love it...and every time I see it, I realize how lucky I am to have a few 'fierce friends' in my corner. 

Sometimes a friendship can be a nice surprise. Nan Reinhardt and I met--I think--when I commented on a blog she'd written and she read one of my books. We found out we lived close-enough and after much conversation and logistics-mastering, we met for the first of many two-hour lunches. In the five years since then, we've gone on several writing vacations and some retreats--all quality time spent writing, eating, and not driving our husbands over whatever edge it is they think we drive them to. When I asked her about friendship, she said, "...we discovered that we were truly kindred spirits. You just don’t expect to find those after age 55 or so. Just goes to show friendship, like love is ageless. ;-)"

There were friends I met when I first started writing--Judith, Jenni, and Tina, who still hold places in my heart today although our writing and personal lives went off like so many forks in the road.

  

I know that when we write books, the most important parts played in the stories are those of the protagonists. They are center stage and the stars of the show, but the ones to the left and right--the best friends and siblings--are just as much fun to write. I've discovered, too, that they keep a lasting hold on pieces of the writer's heart. Just like our friends in real life do. You know, the ones who ride the brooms beside you.