Simple Pleasures: Good Friends Are A Good Thing

Had a lovely, lengthy lunch with a handful of friends this week, something I ought to do more often. It's far too easy to get caught up in the comings and goings of life and forget to just sit down and enjoy each other.

Not that we don't see one another at church or talk on the phone, because we do. But it's never quite the same, somehow. The chemistry of women, seated together in a relaxed setting, is pretty much without parallel...at least in my experience. It seems that when specific time has been set aside...time that doesn't have to be shared with impatient children, beckoning chores, or seemingly urgent errands...women can reap the full benefits of their female friendships, replenishing oft-tapped reserves of emotional energy and well-being. Conversations go deeper, confidences are more readily shared, and compassion is more fully felt and expressed. (What's more, the comedy is out of this world!)

There have been several times in my life where I've gone beyond the "quick fix" of lunch and taken little "sisterhood" retreats with a group of close friends. These never fail to satisfy, and I am feeling the need to do that again sometime soon. I'm imagining a destination both beautiful and remote...by the sea, perhaps...near a vineyard...or surrounded by redwoods. A quiet, tranquil place. And charming, definitely charming...

with trees and rocks and cool, clear water...

and maybe...

a meadow.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Life has its simple pleasures:

the shade of a sturdy tree,

a cooling sip of water,

an old friend's company.

©2003, Susan Noyes Anderson, His Children