Making and Keeping Friends - Part II

"There's no such thing as an 'all-occasion' or 'one-size-fits-all'
friend," says Joy. Each of my friends has unique qualities that enrich my life in very different ways. My business/writing partner Imogene and I used to make an annual Christmas shopping pilgrimage to Atlanta. On the four-hour trip, we could nearly complete the outline for a book. As we planned, I drove and she wrote. We'd spend two days shopping, two nights working on the book, and arrive home the third day with half a rough manuscript together and our Christmas packages ready to put under the tree. We made great fun out of being an 'efficiency machine'! My friend Evelyn doesn't do books, and we've never shopped together, but we're great partners for skiing and snorkeling. She's a stronger swimmer, and I'm a better skier, but we're a team. We've worked out a rhythm for enjoying long hours together on either a reef or a mountain. Peggy and I have fun shopping, but we're dawdlers and don't get much accomplished. She finally has the hang of snorkeling, but flatly refuses to take up skiing. If I want someone to talk to late at night, I call Evelyn. And Peg is kind about being routed out at midnight, but the next day remembers nothing you said. Imogene is an early-to-bed, early-to-rise person. Then if I want the hot news, of course I call Sue, who is happy to accommodate at any hour! Listing the special qualities of each friendship is a fascinating and gratifying thing to do. It's like counting your blessings!

Cut Some Slack! Sue has always done unpredictable things without thinking. Right out of the blue, she does some crazy, unplanned stunt that is bound to embarrass those around her. Once Wayne and Sue were having dinner with friends in a restaurant in Denver when Sue recognized voices wafting from a table that was a level below theirs and on the other side of the curtain. Without thinking, she hiked up her skirt, stuck her leg through the curtain, and plunked her high-heeled shoe smack in the middle of the table. It grew very quiet until a voice said, "I only know of one person in the world this could be. Sue Buchanan!" The couple dining with Sue and Wayne were embarrassed beyond words (as was Wayne) and could of chosen never to speak to Sue again, but being true friends, they have come to relish the story and retell it with great flourish at every opportunity.

"Friends Through Thick & Thin"
by Gloria Gaither, Peggy Benson, Sue Buchanan, Joy MacKenzie

Thanks for posting this.