In Praise of Friendship

Lori Strawn

I will never forget the day I met Andrea for the first time. It was my sophomore year of college, and she waltzed into class wearing a silk blouse, pencil skirt, and sky-high red pumps. The rest of us, in sweats and tennis shoes, spontaneously dissolved into dust bunnies in her regal presence. We quickly learned:

1. She could fly an airplane.
2. She pronounced her name ON-drea, not ANN-drea, like the regular girls we knew.

"We have nothing in common," I opined to my advisor.
"You two will be best friends by the end of the week," he said. And we were.

Last night, talking to her on the phone more than 20 years since our first meeting, we reminisced about our college days when we were the bane of more than one professor's existence. Oh, we were good students, but we were sassy. Opinionated.

"You were always so confident," I recalled. Andrea is one of those people who, upon entering a room, immediately becomes the...what's the phrase? "The cynosure of every eye." That's it.

"No," she said. "That's not true. You were always confident."

But I don't remember it that way. I remember being scared. Scared of the next big test or paper or other academic challenge.

And I wondered, how we both remembered things so differently. Then it dawned on me: Maybe we were confident because we were together.

God doesn't mean us to stand on our own. That's why he brings certain people into our orbits. Like Susan D. and my fellow Pray Makers, who lift me up with their words and vision. We do, in fact, get by with a little help from our friends.

Friends are a gift of the Divine, and old friends, the greatest gifts. Girls, this one's for you.

Galpals

They're the ones
that I can count on,
sure as the beads on an abacus.
It is miraculous to me
how You fit them into my life:
the childhood friend,
the college roommate,
the confidante,
the sisters by birth
and by marriage.
Treasures, all...
a profusion much greater
than one woman deserves.
Thank You for the bonds
forged by women's hearts,
for tangible evidence
of Your enduring love.
Knowing You could not
be present in flesh,
You sent me those
who can and are.