Sing it!
"You've got to have frieeeends!" Bette Midler and Barry Manilow both told us so! Carole King promised, "Lean on me when you're not strong and I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on ..." "Just look over your shoulder honey, I'll be there ..." thank you Jackson Five! Carly Simon and James Taylor told us, "Winter, spring, summer or fall all you have to do is call and I'll be there, yes I will, you've got a friend." Michael W. Smith reminded us, "Friends are friends forever when the Lord's the Lord of them ..." Barbara Streisand summed it up, "People who need people are the luckiest people ..." Are you one of those lucky people? Is friendship something you cultivate?
Girls and friendship ... they're like "peanut butter and jelly"; they just go together! "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." We sang it in Girl Scouts; little did we know how true those words were. There's oxygen and there's friendship!
Whewee ... friends! Can't imagine life without them. Can you? Boring. What would Panera's, Water Street and TJ Maxx be like without a chick friend? How do you survive a carpooling crisis without a friend? Who do you call when you need prayer? Who do you share your extra 10,000 words a day with? Without girlfriends, life would be so ... so ... so full of testosterone! We love our men, but boys are not girls.
Girls talk; therefore we are friends. Bunco is a perfect example. Last summer, I hosted the neighborhood Bunco and my husband just stared in amazement at the non-stop slur of girl-chitchat increasing in decibels every round. At one point, he had the audacity to ask us what the object of Bunco was! Who knows? Who cares? We play Bunco to talk! Color coordinated plates and napkins, cheese and crackers, Twizzlers and M& M's ... life is good! The bell rings, we role the dice, someone shouts, "Bunco!" and the talk-a-thon is on!
We don't care whose turn it is; our concerns are more important. How long was your labor, C-section or epidural? Who did your son get for third grade? Is your daughter excited about getting her license? Does your husband like coaching football? What's the latest at work? How are you coping with menopause? Life stuff. This is what Bette, Barry, Carole, Carly, James, Jackson Five, Michael and Barbara were talking about!
I've met a lot of lonely women — married, single, moms, professionals, busy women ... yet lonely inside. Three Dog Night had it right, "One is the loneliest number!" I encourage you; wherever they are — at the PTO, Junior League, church or Bible study, neighborhood coffee, cohorts at work, Bunco — find your girls! Take the initiative. Invite a stranger out for coffee. Make new friends, but keep the old. You've got to have friends.
Plumb sang a song and the movie Bruce Almighty made it famous, "There's a God-shaped hole in all of us ..." and even with a wonderful husband and the dearest chick friends there is still likely going to be a place inside of you that longs for Someone to know and understand the deepest part of you. Good News ... there IS a Friend who sticks closer than a brother and I hope you get to know this Friend, too.
Beth
