Friendship Legacies

I’ve been thinking lately about friendships. I’ve been feeling sentimental about people I have known through my life and I begin to wonder why is it certain people fall into our lives at certain times. Is it because we are looking for them and they were always there, or were they dropped into our lives at certain times by a higher power? Whether it be God, karma, or coincidence, it has become apparent to me that people are there when we need them.


This has happen to me many times over the years. Seems friends have fallen into my life just when I needed them time and time again. Then, there are those that I realize I have been passing by until finally fate puts us together just when it matters most. Only recently have I began to notice that I have been place in people’s lives when they have needed me. I am realizing that my friendship to others is also important (kind of a It‘s a Wonderful Life epiphany).

Let me begin with the first friend that some higher power insisted be in my life. In the summer of 1983, only a handful of freshman showed up at the SOSC orientation as a journalism major, but there was red head there that I couldn’t help but notice. She had a cool confidence about her. After the orientation she complimented me on my pink and white saddle shoes. September rolled around and I moved into the dorm. First morning there I step out of the bath and practically run face first into the cool red head that I met briefly two months earlier. She lived across the hall form me. Janet and I were immediate friends and have been for 25 years now. We found that there were other instances where we should have met. We hung out in at some of the same places and we knew some of the same people, yet never connected. It seems to me fate was insisting we meet. Although she and I see the world differently and our lives have gone in different directions, we were meant to be friends. We have always been there for each other, although I will say, I think the profound reason for our friendship has not yet arrived.


When I decided to home school, I didn’t know anyone who did. It was scary, but I was jumping in with both feet. A few weeks after the decision, the boys started soccer. The first day of practice as all the moms are getting to know one another, I find that one of the moms also home schools…her five boys! I feel Laura was put there at that place and time to help us through the initial process of home schooling. I had never met anyone who home schooled…how weird was it that I signed up late for soccer and ended up on a team with a veteran home schooler.

Five years ago I reconnected with a high school friend. She and I had been close for years but drifted apart late in high school. We were instrumental in planning our 20th reunion and ended up spending hours on the phone finding we were at the same place in our lives. I went through a couple of tough years after that. Although I didn’t hear from her everyday, it seemed that every time I had a really atrocious day, I’d get an email from her. Usually it was a simple forward with a cute joke or a spiritual word. Ronnette’s prayer and support helped me through a really tough few months. In turn, I nudged her to start home schooling and our friendship is full circle. I hope it continues.

I recently made a new friend. She and I hit it off quickly, which these day doesn’t happen the way it did when I was younger. As we spend hours talking we have found that I have been through some things she is experiencing today. This is the first time I really felt like I was dropped into someone’s life for a purpose (at least that I am realizing ). I think Shelly and I will be friends for a long time.

I have so many dear friends. Some are always there no matter the situation. That would be Tricia…we’ve been there for each other over 25 year, no matter what. We met in college and in many ways our lives have been parallel. She lives across the country and we don’t speak as often as we should, but we are there for each other at the drop of a hat, as it’s always been.

Then there is Kristen who’s words of faith helped me through a very difficult time that she wasn’t even aware of. Unbeknownst to me our kids had played together at the kids club in the gym and we had common friends. We were introduced through some mutual friends and would run into each other here and there. We didn’t really connect until a time when I needed her support.

I have a friend that influenced me to start this blog. You can all thank Tara. I feel she and I are kindred spirit. And although I’m old enough to be her mother (OK, a young mother) I admire her sense of self and she inspires me to see the world a little differently then I normally do. She gets me back to basics in many ways.

Friends of different cultures have come and gone that helped me appreciate the world (Ort, Tmira, Nur, Maggie, Alexandra, Haley, Susie, Rosie, and many more acquaintances from around the globe).
Also, in the past year or so I have shared a passion of mine by encouraging about a dozen people to knit.

And there are friends that are here, for some purpose I am unaware of. These are the people of whom I am suspicious. Am I missing the purpose of our friendship? These are people that I suspect God, karma, or coincidence have brought to me. How is it they need me, or will I need them?? Who will be the next person that will give me the words of wisdom I need? Who will be the next person I influence? Why is it we have met?

I wonder, what is my friendship legacy?? There are those who give words of faith, those who are relationship support, those who are there to just be a girl with. What kind of a friend am I??

Only time will give me these answers or maybe I will never know. In the mean time I am grateful for all my girlfriends; past, current and future. Thank you for all you’ve given me. I hope I am as good a friend to you.