Do you have some great friendships that have lasted for decades? MORE editor-in-chief Lesley Jane Seymour shares her story here. And she’d love to hear about your experiences with friendship. Tell her below.
The women I’m closest to have been my friends for decades.
There’s Ellie, my adopted “big sister,” whom I met during a summer internship in the labs at the New York Aquarium on Coney Island. After many children, one divorce (hers) and several career developments (we’re both out of the lab now, Ellie in the food business and me in magazines), we still make pasta together on weekends and exchange insights.
Then there’s my younger sister, Beth, who wandered back into my life after 20 years of estrangement (we grew up living with separate parents and reintroduced ourselves just before my mother passed away). Brutally clearheaded and funny, she keeps me from romanticizing our past and helps me romanticize our kids’ futures: Her boy and girl are almost the same ages as mine, and we wonder together how to shape a future for them.
My friend Susan from sixth grade has re-emerged as a great theater partner, while Jackie, whom I met when our sons played T-ball together, has become my official suburban sister (like the Ricardos and the Mertzes, our families never even have to knock on the back door before entering). And lastly there’s Nancy, one of my closest business friends. We met when she was launching iVillage and I was the editor of Redbook. I gave her a magazine column, and she gave me a shoulder when, several years later, my career hit some white water.
I’m lucky to have such good friends—but according to statistics, I’m also lucky to have had them for so long, says Sally Koslow in her piece about friendship in our September issue (on sale August 24). According to Sally (who also happens to be a friend), recent research shows that people replace about half of their close friends every seven years! We grow, we divorce, we relocate, we compete, we become ill, and often, it seems, friendships can’t withstand the g-forces of those sharp curves. If you have lost some friends and would like to make more, check out Sally’s suggestions. And if you’ve had some of the same great friends for decades, please share your list with us by commenting below.
Friendship for life—that’s something we can all celebrate together.
Comments
When I entered the first
When I entered the first grade I met my oldest and dearest friend. We are both 69 years old now so our friendship has survived 63 years and has been a friendship for life that we can celebrate. We grew up in a tiny valley in Idaho admiring the beauty of the Grand Teton Mountains. We have been through childhood fads, marriages, death of spouses, many children and more grandchildren, not to even count the greats. She was always the country girl and I was the city tomboy. She could whinny to call the horses she has always loved and still rides. I moved to many other cities in the West and she stayed in that same beautiful valley to raise her family. To this day we can call each other on the phone and there is no need to identify ourselves. Its always been, "Hi, how are you? What a wonderful blessing she has been in my life!
Hi, I just read your March
Hi, I just read your March issue and saw the article about Mayor Annise Parker. I'm 68 and having grown up outside Cincinnati, I guess I've always thought of Cincinnati as a "major" city, perhaps I'm wrong. We had a lesbian mayor years ago, Roxanne Qualls. We still see her on the news here when it shows the city council. She is a respected member of the community and is still a part of the city government. Thank you
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