Recently my mom had her 89th birthday.  One of the greatest gifts she got was a visit from Sitella, her best friend.  Sitella drove over to be with us for the birthday celebration.  She's almost 80 and she and Mom have been friends for almost 50 years.

I knew there was a moment in my life when I yearned, like I thought I was supposed to, for “the one,” but my true inclination is to yearn for the many. And not just loves, relationships, romances—but friends and close-knit family.

One of my oldest and dearest friends died last month, after what seemed like an all-to-brief and unfairly fatal illness; this post is about her, about friendship and about what we shared.

As I’ve made my way through being single post divorce, I’ve gone out with some people that my friends didn’t like. It wasn’t just that the guys had a profession my friends didn’t expect, or political views more liberal (or conservative) than my friends, or employment or marital histories (or lack of them)radically different than mine, it was that they just didn’t feel that some of the guys I went out with made sense.

I am now home after having been admitted to the hospital via the Emergency Room 5 days ago. To make a long story shorter – on my 3rd visit to the ER with an unresolving leg infection, we discovered that I also had bi-lateral pneumonia. So, a 5 day stay in the hospital ended up with me mostly better, on oxygen at night at home for a while, and finishing up a brutal course of IV and now pill-form antibiotics and steroids. And, I am here with many tales to tell of moments that shook my soul and comforted it again. Women-stories. Here is the first ---

There were many cultural surprises awaiting me when I moved from South Florida to Los Angeles in 2002, but one of the biggest was that I met numerous people who thought it was strange that I had a male roommate.  (Yeah, I *so* stopped telling anyone we had dated at one point.)

Years ago, during a particularly difficult time in my life, I spent the day with a friend. She didn't have a car, so I picked her up and took her to lunch and shopping in a nearby city. She complained all day long. She had to walk to work. She hated living in the city. The grocery near her was terrible. And oh, enough about her - what did I think about her? I was a counselor - didn't I have any advice? She never asked me how I was doing, or responded to anything I said about how much my life may or may not have sucked at the time.

Sometimes I wish there could be some kinds of rules about when and how people say they love one another. It’s just all over the map. There’s the casual male friend who sent me a sweet note this week about a blog post and signed it Love, (His name), and the long-time boyfriend who says “Love you,” and all the people in between, for each of whom the L word means something different.

When I left South Florida for film school in Tallahassee, my life changed dramatically in millions of ways.  A true turning point from which I didn't turn back, but only moved forward.  Many things were gained in my journey to Los Angeles, but my friendship base back home was left behind in Florida, and I've only been back for two weekends in five years. My friends have always been my family.  I suspect, at least, that what I have historically gotten from friendship is what most people experience with family.  The catch for me being, of course, that my friends are not family, and my friends have families of their own.

I was scrolling through the most recent photos taken by my Flickr contacts when BlogHer contributing editor Grace Davis blew me away with a set of her friends' impromptu wedding. Courtesy of an online ordination service, Grace also just happened to be the officiant. She tells this wonderful story best.

An article appeared today in the Washington Post about an American University class assignment that forced the students to go on a 24-hour "media fast." This meant using no computers, video games, cell phones, mp3 players, or any other gadget for a day, for any purpose. Along with the loss of entertainment and immersion in information that accompany these tools, the students saw that it impacted their far-reaching social circles as well.