A Conversation about Friendship

My dear friend, Amy Isler Gibson, and I had a very satisfying evening at Tsunami books in Eugene, Oregon, talking about the complicated course of our friendship, the breaking apart and reuniting that I write about in This Particular Happiness. I shared our story through reading from my memoir, and Amy called back with art that was inspired by my memoir and our story.

It was a wonderful evening and many present said it brought up for them their own lost friendships and complicated endings as well as appreciation for long term friends.

We hope to have an event like this again and to again invite the audience into the conversation.

We place such a high premium on our primary relationships, and on family. But friendships are as fulfilling and enduring and complicated as any other relationship because they offer the same mirror into ourselves, which can sometimes be a delight and sometimes difficult to look into..

What do your friendships mean to you? How do you value them? How do you nurture them? What kind of friend are you? Are you able to talk through the hard parts with a friend? I hope we can all celebrate our friendships, as I get older, I understand the ways they can hold strong, and still be there through times apart. I also believe strongly in surrounding yourself with people who love and support you…so choosing wisely seems like a good path.

Here are some pics from the evening.

(If you like the little stick figure image on the face of this blog post, you can get your very own sticker pack and create your own wording to the coolest images from Yuvi Zalkow at Neurotic Stix.)