I just got off the phone (yes, a real phone conversation.…no email, no post, no texting…real talking..imagine that)with a dear and val­ued friend of long long stand­ing. What a joy it was to recon­nect with her. I have been blessed in that over the course of many years, many states and many moves, I have had steady and won­der­ful friends. We may con­nect with each other no more than once or twice a year but when we do, it is as if we were never apart. I find this incred­i­b­ley com­fort­ing. I have known a few women friends over 35 years now. We knew each other as we mar­ried. Thru preg­nan­cies, moves, finan­cial dif­fi­cul­ties, suc­cesses, divorces and sadly deaths. We have watched each oth­ers chil­dren grow into adult­hood even if it was across a dis­tance. I can pick up today where I left off last year with them. We are grow­ing old together. One good friend is just about to become a grand­mother for the first time another has just recently bat­tled breast can­cer. Our worlds ebb and flow but never our friend­ship or our love for each other. I recently bemoaned the lack of a sis­ter in my life. These women are as close as that comes with­out them being one, and for that I thank them. I have some friend­ships that I have let slide mostly because of lazi­ness on my part. After talk­ing with my friend tonight I feel a renewed desire to recon­nect with them. For myself, a lot of “friends” is not nec­es­sary, but a few really valu­able ones are. They have held my hand and given me a shoul­der to cry on. They have been strong when I could not be. They honor and respect who I am, not what they would wish for me to be. What a gift that is. When we are with each other, we are not judg­ing their lives or their homes or their choice of mates, we sim­ply enjoy each other. Each of my friends brings their own spe­cial gifts to the table, yet their com­mon denom­i­na­tor is they are all incred­ibaly strong, intel­li­gent, humor­ous, spir­i­tual, beau­ti­ful, loyal women. I am so lucky I can sur­round myself with these kind of women. My wish for each and every one of you, man or woman, is for a friend­ship true. Some­one who cares about you, loves you, lis­tens to you, holds you account­able, sees your faults but loves you any­way. Who can be 100 miles away in dis­tance,  but is never far in thought. Because of my friends, I am a bet­ter me. I hope I have returned this gift to them ten­fold. Heres to old and dear friends. Thank you.