For generations women have formed bonds;  relationships based on and pertaining to their unique abilities to foster healing connections to one another.  Their histories, their stories, although different, become the common threads that create the framework - the tapestry of their lives.

    Woven into each stitch of their mosaics are all memories, joy as well as pain. Each weaves their personal history and gives birth to their work of art. Women form a sisterhood as they acknowledge each individual's gifts and the value of each road traveled. They seek answers, the need to share their memories, and to console and counsel one another.

    Sandie has been my very best friend since 1980.  And although we have lived apart for the past 14 years, we have maintained our friendship.  She has been my best friend for 24 years now and means more to me than ever. But it took persistence to even begin this friendship.

    We met in college and she didn't like me at all.  But I liked her.  We were both pregnant with our daughters. She was in several of my classes and obviously the most intelligent one in the room (including the professors).  I would go sit with her in the student union where I would often find her sitting alone with a stack of books around her; her nose buried in a book.  I would start talking to her and she would try to ignore me.   She was stuck.  Sometimes she would just get up and leave, saying she had a class.  Sometimes she would continue to read, but just short of rudeness, she could not get rid of me.

    Eventually she responded.  She stopped leaving when I would sit with her.  And one day she set her book down and actually talked to me.  And that was the beginning of a lifetime friendship.

    Soon we were doing everything together.  Studying, shopping,  making sure we had as many classes together as we could, and when she went into labor, I was right there at her side until her husband could be reached at work and get to the hospital.

     Our daughters were born 4 months apart and grew up together.  We have been through a multitude of things together.  We can talk or not talk; see each other or not see each other.  But each time, we simply pick up right where we left off at the last visit.  We understand each other without words. 

    I  searched high and low trying to find just the right thing for this page.  It has taken a long time.  I even tried to write something myself, but could not seem to express it the way I wanted to.   Finally,  I came across this poem.  This, Sandie, is for you.

Forever Friends

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend;
Someone who changes your life
just by being part of it.

Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop;
Someone who makes you believe
that there really is good in the world.

Someone who convinces you

This is Forever Friendship.

When you're down,
and the world seems dark and empty,

Your forever friend lifts you up in spirit
and makes that dark and empty world
suddenly seem bright and full.

Your forever friend gets you through
the hard times, the sad times,
and the confused times.

If you turn and walk away,

your forever friend follows.

If you lose your way,
your forever friend guides you
and cheers you on.

Your forever friend holds your hand
and tells you that everything is going to be okay.

And if you find such a friend,
you feel happy and complete,
because you need not worry.
You have a forever friend for life,
and forever has no end.

"A part of you has grown in me, together forever we shall be, never apart, maybe in distance, but never in heart"

Author: Unknown