That's What Friends are For

by Shirley Hailstock

Memories are as precious as childhood. For several years, a group of my friends and I have gotten together in person (as opposed to cell phones, Facebook, Twitter and chats). This year marked our fifty-first year as friends. We met as teenagers when dresses were mini, boots were white and to the knee, hair was the thing  (long and straight or perfect afro-circles). Our thighs were thinner, our muscles tones and we could pass the pencil test (If you don't know what that is, email me). The world was ours for the taking.

Along the way through life to date, we've shared our happy and sad times. We've gone through school, boyfriends, heartache, falling in love, weddings, births and deaths, jobs and now retirement. Yet as a collective, as a sisterhood, as the bonds of friendship have kept us close and tied to one another, we've scaled cliffs and soared over mountains, each knowing that one or the other had our backs.

This year the meeting was at my house. As an avid crafter and tablescape planner, I started thinking of what I wanted to do to make this year special. We don't have to do anything in particular. We just love getting together and talking about where we are, what we've done and what we plan to do in this next segment of our lives.

Of course, I didn't listen to that. I love a party and this was my chance to put one together. My theme was college, where we all met–Howard University, Washington, DC, 1966.

[Howard University - Founders Library] 

Who knew when we got off the bus, out of cars or stepped down from a train that the world was looking at two future judges, one a Supreme Court Judge (State of Florida), an author, a medical doctor, a university PhD in Speech Pathology and a Real Estate mogul. But on that first day as we entered the gates at Howard University, our lives were about to merge and a friendship would be born to last a lifetime.

[insert - me 1970]

Because the school colors were blue and white, I used that throughout the weekend. Also, it was the rise of Motown records and music. I made a centerpiece (two actually) of records, disco balls, and flowers, all a sign of our times.

 

While the kitchen is the hub of all activity, we spent a lot of time around the dining room table. The placemats were long playing albums (LP's) that were Motown songs. The napkins were folded like blouses and each one had a necklace that had BFF (best friends forever) inserted in the neck. Everyone put them on.

The cap of the weekend was taking a limousine into Manhattan to see Ain't Too Proud, the Life and Times of The Temptations. It was a play on Broadway and it was perfect. The music was that of our time, back when we met, back when we got out of the cars, off the bus and stepped down from trains. Since then we have fifty years of memories and more to come.

I treasure our friendship. It has provided me with hours of laughter and hundreds of antidotes for stories. Within the pages of my novels, you'll find one or more of the antics that happened to us, one or more of the emotions we went through. Friendship is a treasure, shinier than gold and brighter than the sun.

And it never fails to give me ideas for heartwarming stories.

Who are your friends, your BFF's, the people you turn to in heartache and joy? Find them in the pages of all our books.

And as always, keep reading. . .