The Gift of Friendship

A few weeks ago I got a package in the mail from a dear friend in San Francisco. Always a nice surprise to receive something good in the mail....not just bills and junk~! I was touched to find inside a book "The Girls from Ames" by Jeffrey Zaslow and a very sweet note about how she found the book very inspiring and that it brought to mind a great bond that we have. Really have not read much in the last few year...love to read...but just a bit much on my plate and once I start reading...hate to put it down. And as part of her note she asked me to "Pay It Forward" and pass the book on to another woman who will hopefully find the same connections. The book is basically written by a man who studied the lifetime relationship between a group of 11 women from Ames, Iowa. They were childhood friends who developed a  special bond in childhood growing up in a small town and have continued this friendship and bond into their forties although they are spread all around the country.

Excitedly I started the book and looked forward each evening having some "me" time and reading. The book did have so many ties for me and the relationships between many of the women in my life. Bonds that have only strengthened over the years and are a testament to these women in my life who have always been a constant. A few years ago we started a group called NAGO (North American Gossip Organization), which we generally had our convention once a year as we all gathered from different parts of California for a weekend of catching up and although "gossip" is our mantra....really a way to just bond and be together. Many of us don't even remember meeting officially, we have always been a part of our lives. Some have become friends later in life, but joining the group has it rituals.

The book did not disappoint and on many themes and levels was a real testament to women, our bonds, and strengths.  One of the things the book talks about is how it is easier with today's email and other technologies for this group of women to keep in contact. Email makes it possible for them to email each other and by hitting "Reply to All" everyone in their group is informed.

And now we have facebook...which has brought back together a group of my high school friends in a way that would not have been possible a few years ago. Spread though a number of states and most all of CA, we are able to keep in contact through a simple post. It has been wonderful reconnecting with these women who I have so much in common with many years ago...and now find that in many ways I still do.

So this weekend the book gets "Paid Forward" to a dear friend (and NAGO member) who will hopefully do the same and I plan to send a copy to another woman to hopefully give another friend a sweet mail box surprise~! Thanks Nicole...it was perfect~!!