Chapter 38 - The Best of Friends

I have been lucky in my lifetime to have some really great friends but I have three in particular who have been with me through ups and downs, good and bad, and thick and thin. Like T.I. Lowe's Sand Queens, these women have withstood the test of time as friendships go. While I am always grateful for new friends, my Musketeers are like the jewelry I wear all the time (my wedding ring, my watch, and my earrings - thank you Tonya!).

Here are some terrific books I have read about friendships of all kinds. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

This Tender Land by William Kent Kruger - This is a story of four friends who leave the Indian Training School where they are and travel the Mississippi River. In their travels they discover that friends can be family.

The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King - A beautifully written book by Pat Conroy's widow, a well-known writer in her own right, The Same Sweet Girls tells about the lives of a group of lifelong friends.

A Week at the Lake by Wendy Wax - Three friends get together every year at a lake in New York to relax, reminisce and catch up. This year an accident makes the friendships wobble but will they finally break?

Chances Are by Richard Russo - Three male college friends congregate at the Cape to relive memories and to finally figure out what happened to a girl they all loved who seemed to disappear without a trace.

Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde - This is a terrific book of an unlikely friendship that arises between a grieving father and two boys he has been asked to look after. Get out your hankies for this one.

Do you have a favorite friendship book? Let me know!