You Gotta Have Friends

Okay, so how cool is it to have friends?  I have friends from childhood and from workplaces, and I cherish them all so much.

In the past few days, I have had lunch with oldest (only in the years that we've been friends, not by age, of course) friends and two of my work friends, and I feel so great.  I know I've said this before, but having friends really can be rejuvenating to your soul and psyche. 

On Saturday, my Francine and I had lunch and spent a couple of hours just talking and laughing about the now and the then.  Francine is a friend who literally makes me feel warm inside.  I just love being with her, and I'm smiling now thinking about her.  She is funny and bright and loving and I love her to bits.  We have gone through a lot together, and always seem to be able to connect no matter what is going on in our lives.

Last night, I had dinner with my Janice and Annie, and we also spent some hours just chatting and laughing and commiserating over junk going on at work (my former employer).  I hadn't seen Annie for over a year, and it was really, really great to see her.  Keeping in touch via email is good, but nothing beats a hug and face-to-face conversations.  I'm telling you, it's friggin' rejuvenating.

And that brings me to my second short story for my writing workshop class.  Originally, I was going to do something about dating, but then I just started writing about friends.  It is a work of "fiction," but it has a touch of the real thing in there from time to time.  One of the questions I ask in the piece is why are women so much better at maintaining friendships than men?  And you know what?  I don't know that answer for sure.  I have friends from birth, third grade, junior high, high school and beyond; my husband just didn't keep in touch with his friends.  Why?  Do you know?