Words With Friends

Hosting The Empty Nesters Radio Show has provided the opportunity to meet many interesting people. Jeffrey Zaslow was such a guest. His book The Last Lecture co authored with Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch shot him to fame.  He came on the show to talk about his book The Girls From Ames, a story of enduring female friendships. The world was saddened to hear of his recent passing at age 53 due to a car accident. Exploring the topic of female friendships brought Irene Levine to the program. Her book Best Friends Forever was real food for thought. We women are social creatures by nature. From our anthropological roots to our current fascination with social media, we have the need to connect with others. The journey through our friendships is filled with laughter and tears, wonder and heartbreak. From the schoolyard to the boardroom, from the sorority to the PTA, we do as we learned in kindergarten- we make new friends and keep the old (one is silver and the other gold). Our friends immeasurably enrich our lives. They are there to counsel us on our love lives and fashion sense. They validate our parenting skills from diapers to driver’s licenses. Throughout our lives we lose touch with some and add others. Sometimes the change is organic and natural. Sometimes an unfortunate incident ends the friendship. And then there is the death of a friendship that doesn’t seem to make any sense. Time passes and the awkwardness of the absence grows deeper. Do we question our now estranged friend as to what may have gone wrong? Do we really want to know? Do we ask mutual friends to intercede? Can we move forward or has time eroded the memories? Will our action (or inaction) be a regret at the end of our lives? Is life too short or does everything have a season? Ironically, it is our friends to whom we turn to help us answer the questions.