If Friends Were Pearls, I'd Have Luminous Ropes

I'm so grateful for the girls in my life. The little girls, the high school girls, the women.....the people who have lit my path and made it fun and beautiful. These are the ones who go beyond Moey, Anne and Sis, about whom I blog regularly. They are pink, polished, pure, creamy, iridescent, perfect spheres--although each is different, together they make my stunning strands. I added some early, some late--some I'm still in touch with, some not--but I wear them all as a part of who I am today. My own personal version of the Add-A-Pearl necklace [since 1854; addapearl.com]--H. and I got one for Figgy when she was younger, but have fallen behind on adding pearls!

My Girl Pearls
Brenda, the spunky girl with brown eyes and brown hair who walked to kindergarten with me, and shared Bosco in milk with me at her house after school....Barbara, my freckled friend who moved to Florida in third grade and became a loyal pen pal...my cousin Cathy, who lived nine houses away from me and was a close playmate when we were girls...Lorraine, my cohort in dissecting the important facts of life as preadolescents, from bad haircuts to why our moms refused to buy us yogurt.....and with whom I got in trouble in sixth grade for laughing over a love/sex scene from 1984 that Mr. Vafier read aloud at St. Mary's....Irene, my close neighborhood friend, whiling away the summer days with me and cracking me up with her jokes....Debbie [since Brownies!], Liz, Susan, Tish, Eileen, Nancy, Lorrie, Joyce, my high school friends....Fritch, an original who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in homeroom every day, because she didn't like the part about God....and Jayne and Lily, who bravely blazed the all-male path at Dumont High School so the rest of us could follow and run cross-country and track [this was the time of Title IX, the amendment that cleared the way for gender equality in athletic programs]. We could claim uniforms and varsity letters of our own!

Meg, my college roommate, who liked Pepperidge Farm cookies when cramming for exams [she was a brilliant math major]. Alice, Marianne and Peggy, our fellow witnesses to those four college years--learning, questioning, falling in love, emerging as adults, and living through the death of both John Lennon and my mom. My Targum mentors and friends, Carmela, Nancy, Susan, who took our college newspaper to heart. My work friends, the ones who see you through when you enter the real world. Kim, a smart writer who came from California, all sunshine and positive energy....Marilynn and Margaret, junior editors who first took me to high tea at the Plaza Palm Court...Madonna, Sandra, Eileen, Christiane...a clutch of young women emerging as gifted writers, editors and thinkers.....while also planning weddings and becoming mothers....Donna, my hip boss and friend, who taught me so much about style--both the kind you wear and the kind you craft, with words. Sharon, Debby, Delia, Ruth, Ellen C......color, kindness and brains at the magazine, fun to work shoulder to shoulder with.

Gail, Julie and Jeanne, who made me laugh and showed me fresh perspectives for years in our Montclair book group....Edi and Elly, who both begin with E and have added extra insights and compassion to my days....Jean, whom I admire and love to talk to.....Celia, a sweet presence with infinite quiet wisdom, Barbara, a friend I've gotten to know and admire more lately, and Patsy, who lived next-door to me for years before I really came to count her among the nicest and strongest women I know....and then my sisters-in-law, Eileen, Sheila and Therese, who teach you things only a sister-in-law can...and my cousin Linda, who has become my closer friend and confidant this year.

"A woman should have ropes and ropes of pearls," said Coco Chanel, pictured above.

I am happy to say that I do.