Hi! I loved hearing about your purple boa. I don't have a special way to celebrate birthdays, but I do get together with a certain group of girlfriends every other month (sometimes more).

We are 40's to 50's age girls that either still are, or have been members of an area church. We missed our friendships so we came up with a way of getting together. We go to a restaurant nearby and call ourselves"The Fazoli gals" OR "The Ci Ci gals" I do an e-mail blast to them when I have 1/2 days at my school job and those that can, come. We share prayer requests, pictures of our kids and grandkids, and of course a meal. We even have a waitress take a group picture sometimes!

We feel it is very important to keep friendships going. Even though we don't still all attend the same church, we are
Sisters in the Lord!

Jane, I love the idea of your purple boa. I completely agree that we should celebrate more often - our friendships, our lives, the small ways in which God blesses us (and the big ways too!) We live in such a fast paced society that we're no longer any good at celebrating because we're too focused on the "next thing"...or too jealous to really celebrate someone else.

The other reminder I walk away from your post with is that you must be intentional in your friendships. Time passes so quickly, hardships come, and sometimes it seems like all we can do to just to be a good wife and mother. We have to be intentional about connecting with others, or it just won't "happen."

My friends and I don't have any set rituals, but through mom's groups, book clubs and play dates, we do try to make time for each other. I look forward to hearing what others share.

A great tradition to begin.

Jonean's birthday is two days before mine so we share our celebration with a mutual friend. We also get together to celebrate Fay's birthday in April. There is a delightful little tea room in a neighboring town where we enjoy lunch, including dessert, gifts and just take time to visit, laugh, and enjoy a leisurely time together. We have talked about expanding our group to some other friends whose birthdays are in other months so we can get together more often and increase the fun and fellowship. Girlfriends need some "girls only" time to refresh our spirits and reconnect with friends. I love the purple boa idea...what a special touch.

Hi Jane,

I think it's really wonderful you and your friend have this special time of celebration.

Unfortunately, for me I can't say that I have a special friend that I can share special days with.

Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful Husband and 3 beautiful daughters, 16, 14, 10.

But we all need a special friend in our lives that we can celebrate Birthdays or just special days with.

I do have friends. But not close friendships like you have with Sue. Why????
I really don't know. Has it been maybe that I just haven't taken the time to allow the friendship to become deeper???

My friend sent this site to me, well to all of us really. We gather every year for one whole luscious day to celebrate all our birthdays. It begun because two of our group sort of miss out because they are very close to Christmas, one Christmas day!. It is hard to compete with the Lords birthday! Mind you, we know He doesn't forget because He's too busy shopping! It is rather a great idea and personally I am glad for the excuse to gather and let our hair down. One of the other girls mum used to to meet with her 3 friends and do the same until a couple of years back. I think it was the year they buried number 3 that we started up carrying on their tradition. We take turns in the organization and we try and keep it a surprise. I have a feeling that this year we will be all sporting a purple feather boa as well. We have taken a vote and so far it's a go'a! Oh look...I made a rhyme! The first year we had a ladies luncheon. Full on flash meal and dressed to impress. After that we went shopping to shops that some had only dreamt about going into. The following year a whole day at a health retreat which was so good we did it again last year. This year Trish is organizing it and we are playing the guessing game trying to bribe where and how and what fors...it's all part of the fun and now this lovely little site to be a part of and record our event as well. I trust that others will be inspired and start something up for themselves for whatever reason they can think of!

Red Hat Society: We love red boas as well as purple boas -- and we wear them just because ..............

Our lack of friends or our celebration of them is such a huge topic for women, something I have pondered so much of my adult life, since I'm more of an introvert and find I'm usually happier with a close circle of just a few friends rather than a grand circle of acquaintances. But why some find it difficult to make new friends, I don't know. I've wrestled with that myself, and have discovered one of my daughters does as well. And how do you really tell someone what to do to find friends? It remains a mystery to me! So that's why I like to celebrate those precious friendships I have that have lasted through the years.

I enjoyed reading this, like some of the ladies that have posted, I do not have a really close friend who is not related.
I have wondered why I couldn't have a "best friend girlfriend" but guess the Lord knows best. Over the years there have been extremely interesting women that I have come in contact with & I have enjoyed their friendships.
I have two long distance freindships that span over 20 years & I am very thankful for those.
God has blessed me with a daughter who I would call best friend & we have at least 2 days every year that we spend together, shopping & enjoying the day, just us.
God Bless all the "friends".