Once again I remind you that I am 57 years old and thus feel that I have gained some wisdom over my years. One of the most profound lessons of my life was hearing my mother say how glad she was to have such a wonderful band of children at the passing of our father. If she hadn’t had six children she would be terribly alone because, with all our moving, and her very reserved nature, she was friendless in this particular town we live in. At the time I was becoming friendly with a couple of colleagues at my new job but though it wasn’t a truly conscious effort I did determined that I needed to build a circle of friends.
A couple of years later, inspired by my sister, I decided to start my own book club and it was one of the best things I ever did. I magically gained a group of girlfriends that I treasure. Even though we usually only meet once a month I find these women grounding and supportive. Currently we are all still leading very busy lives with work and family responsibilities but I know that as we approach our golden years our friendship will become stronger and more meaningful.
At the same time my career took a new twist and I departed my law firm to go back into oil and gas. But I had made some great friends at the firm and as one of the ladies’ husband was a wine maker I already had a growing friendship there. My FF girlfriends are so tight we even go on an annual girlfriends’ weekend into B.C. It’s a time I look forward to each spring and I just get a warm and fuzzy feeling thinking about it. ( I'm realizing there are puns galore here. LOL)
Where I am working now I must admit that the first three years I was buddies with my engineering friends and as the only woman on the team I was tremendously spoiled. Now that I am back in the home office with a new assignment I have discovered a group of ladies that I really appreciated. I can already tell that I am going to have another circle of friends with this group of colleagues and I look forward to it with real pleasure. One of the ladies has already done me the honour of asking me to join her on a trip to NYC (a story I have yet to tell!). We bonded so well that I just ask myself why did it take so long to discover this treasure? And just recently I discovered two charming ladies on the 22nd floor who are so warm hearted and wonderful I look forward to knowing them better.
Lastly, fifteen years ago I began the initiative of getting together my 25th high school reunion. Out of that I rediscovered old girlfriends and found friendship with former classmates that seem to grow more dear to me with every passing year. Golly, I am sounding a bit too sentimental but believe me I cherish these friends with all my heart.
My advice to all the ladies out there is to stop and think about what people surround you and with a little effort you too can have a circle of friends that can be there for you in your golden years. As you know, once you finish high school the years pass by with increasing rapidity until you turn around and say “Hey, what happened? It’s almost 2011.” Forty years have gone by since my high school graduation. It has truly flown by in the blink of an eye. But with that blink, wisdom has miraculously developed!
Make friends, keep friends, treasure them and feel blessed.
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