In my life, I have many friends, but only a handful of best friends. Growing up, I had two best friends: Cheryll and Laurel lived in my neighborhood. Neither of them went to the same school as I did. I went to Catholic school. Laurel attended Lutheran school, and Cheryll attended public school. Our bonding could have been partly because our mothers were friends. We were a Baptist, Lutheran, and a Catholic. What we had in common was not having sisters. We adopted each other as sisters. After sixty years, we will text, call, and try to visit even though we are many states apart. That is part of being “best friends”.
Shared story lines give a base to continue to share with each other. We have laughed, supported through loss, joys, and hardships. Still, we are friends. Our careers varied: Pediatric nurse, speech pathologist, and a graduate from law school but never took the bar exam. We live in three different parts of the country, but emails, texts, and calls keep us together.
I belong to a group of writers with disabilities. In that group, I consider two writers as best friends. Though we have never met face to face, Lynda, Alice, and I have shared many aspects of our lives through calls and writings.
I have a third best friend: an exchange sister that I still communicate and text most weeks. Adelia lives in São Paulo, Brazil. I treasure her as a part of my family.
Having best friends is a gift from God. When my daughter Ruth was an older toddler, she told an adult that was interviewing her at a food fair that Grandma was her best friend. We lived in the country at the time and had no close children as neighbors. We decided to move to the small town of Ada so she could have the opportunity to have close friendships.
So take time to call, write, or text those special friendships in your lives.
Poem
Best Friends
B Butter and jam tea sandwiches,
E Evening gatherings under the lilacs,
S Sisterhood, pinkie sworn,
T Took the first steps towards womanhood.
F Finding others through the years,
R Racing down different life paths,
I I know that each of you has my back protected.
E Each shares a special part of my life.
N Not real sisters but shared sisterhood.
D Dancing through the years,
S Smiling at the shared memories.
Thank you Cheryll, Laurel, Lynda, Alice, and Adelia.
carolaspot@aol.com
copyrighted 6/8/26
traveling up and down the blind highway 