Friendships

I like being old. At nearly 80, I think I am allowed to say so. Indeed, I like being old so much that I wrote a book about it. But that doesn’t mean that everything about being old is wonderful. Far from it. And one of the things I like least is the loss of friends…

You might think that after years together you’ll have built a deep emotional intimacy that bonds you and provides profound satisfaction for you and your partner. You may think that, but you’d be wrong in many cases…

As I sat in a local restaurant at lunchtime, waiting for my friend, I looked around and saw a large room filled with women doing exactly the same thing. We were all gathering to commiserate, share, expound and take or offer encouragement and advice – woman to woman, beet salad to beet salad – no topic too large or too trivial to take on.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a great deal about friendships. Friends and social acquaintances are a big and important part of a woman’s life. Therefore, it remains vital, as we age, not to let those relationships slip away. It’s so easy to get…

Author and diarist Anaïs Nin wrote that “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” According to a 2011 study in the journal Oncology Times, women with early-stage…

It is my profound good fortune to be spending this week with an amazing human being called Julie: she is and has been one of my besties for 25 years. We live quite different lives, and almost entirely in different parts of the world, but we have an unerring…

Years ago I would often have people over for dinner. We called these events dinner parties, and I would usually invite anywhere between two to five couples. I would spend all day in the kitchen, cooking up a storm and still be busy when the company arrived…

As I write this article, I find myself in a phase of life where I am 61 years old and very suddenly having to supervise care for my mom who just turned 85. This situation is further complicated by the fact that our relationship has not been the most fabulous…

I am very much a woman who follows her gut instincts and goes by the belief that first impressions are lasting impressions. So, when I form a positive opinion about somebody that proves to be wrong, I actually disbelieve myself – until I am ready to accept…

My friends are getting sick at an alarming rate. No doubt it goes with the aging process. We all get our share of aches and pains but some illnesses are a matter of life and death. When your friend is diagnosed with a serious illness, what’s the best way to respond?