When I spend time writing in my journal and work on my memoir, the friendships of my life are often a topic.  Whether I am focusing on my early childhood friends or the friends I have today it always makes me happy.  I was writing the other day about a childhood friend and remembering that we used to love to eat pickles together.  We loved pickles so much we would even drink the pickle juice!  She was the youngest of her siblings, who were quite a bit older than her, so she had lots of toys.  One of the things I loved about having her as a friend was that she had every barbie made, plus all the accessories.  We didn’t have much in common, other than the pickles, but I wonder why I chose her to be my playmate.  Could it have been my longing to play with all those barbies, since the closest thing I had was a Dusty doll? 

Look at your friendships you have today.  Why do you have the friends you have today?  Did you meet at a club you both belonged to?  Did you live in the same neighborhood?  It is fun to write about our friendships and how they began.  Spend some time this week writing about the friends in your life.  Try to start back with your childhood, which friends do you particularly remember?  Who did you hang out with in high school?  When you began having children did you find other friends with young children as well?  Which friends have you savored over the years?  There is nothing more precious in our lives than our friends.  Our friends keep us balanced and alive.  Even Courtney loves hanging out with her friends, Peanut and Princess.

As a special bonus, make a phone call or write a letter to some of your special friends and tell them what your friendship has meant to you!