Friday Five: Friends

Jan from RevGalBlogPals writes:

Ever since I found out I could be the hostess for the third Friday Five of each month, I have not been able to get the thought of friends out of my mind. Being an only child (all growed up) who moved around a lot in my lifetime, friends have always been very important to me. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: "The way to have a friend is to be a friend."

So today let's write about the different kinds of friends we have, like childhood friends, lost friends, tennis friends, work friends, and the list goes on. List 5 different types of friends you have had in your life and what they were/are like.

1. Childhood friends

Growing up, we lived in Ohio, then South Carolina, then Ohio again. I have "sets" of friends from elementary school, junior high, high school and college that I admit I have no clue anything about them - where they are, what they are doing in life, etc. Even m>y high school friends, BFFs to use teen parlance, and my closest friends and sorority sisters from college are not on my radar screen. Occasionally one of my sibs will hear from someone I know and send a "hello" -- and I think "gee, that's nice" -- and don't muscle up the energy to respond. So hey -- if you went to any of these schools - drop me a comment! :)

• Lexington Elementary in Lexington, Ohio
• Ebenezer Elementary and Ebinport Elementary in Rock Hill, SC
• Sullivan Jr. High in Rock Hill, SC
• North High School in Columbus, Ohio
• OSU School of Music

2. Lost friends

My friends Carolyn and Tania were in my wedding. I have no clue where they are today. Carolyn got married. Tania got married and divorced, and I think she is now remarried. I'd love to find them again...

3. PTSA friends

Some of these women I have spent a lot of hours with, running committees, leading events, raising money, volunteering in the classroom, and advocating for our kids. One "set" of these friends is graduating... four more years... wow.

4. Seminary friends

These are very active, and Facebook sure makes a difference in staying in touch. We celebrate and love each other through the changes and challenges of finishing school (or managing to STAY IN school).

Last summer I took a Mentoring Women class. Our professor organized us into work groups, and we spent our modular week laughing, crying, and praying together. It was energizing and encouraging! We called our group "Daughters of the Lion" - a BIG shout out to them! (And for some reason, I don't have a group picture of us... bummer.)

Various other friends from divinity school - we started together three years ago and are still going at it, one semester at a time. We are from California, Texas, Georgia and Maryland, and still are friends and co-laborers for Godstuff.




5. Friends for the journey

There's groups within a group here...

- RevGals - so many... and I'm so grateful to have found you via a random "women pastors" Google search!

-I just realized I need a picture of these women... they are "The Pastorettes" as we jokingly call ourselves. We meet for life, love and encouragement every month. Dana and I are the seminarians, and Terry and Marina are pastors in the area. I truly love them.

- A dated picture, but here's most of the team at the church where I work. This was taken last year at a "Retro" party.



- My Bearded Brewer, Reedy Girl, and the Harpist. Love them the most. My prayer is that, as our girls grow up, they will be daughters and friends for BB and me.



As a bonus, put a link to a new (to you) blogging friend and introduce us!
Well, she's not a new friend, but she will be a new blogging fried to all of you. DebD is a homeschooling mom and long-time friend. We actually "met" via another on-line group, and then discovered we lived within 4 miles of one another. But that's a tale for another day...

Here's her self description:

I am a Christian homeschooling mom and wife with 6 children whom I have been homeschooling since 1991. As of the 2007/2008 school year, two of my children are in college, one in private school, and the final three are still at home. I am a convert to the Eastern Orthodox Christianity from a mixture of the Charismatic, Reformed, and Lutheran faith. I hope you will find a nice mix of family life, homeschooling, and faith on my blog.

“Of all holy work, the education of children is
the Most Holy.” --St Theophan the Recluse.

Hope you'll visit her!

peace out, friends...

Deb