June was an incredible month here at The Perennial Gen! Thank you to everyone who read, commented on, and shared the posts submitted by our generous guest writers.
Friendship turned out to be the perfect topic for our themed submissions as we watched the growing response to this new site and social media community.
Here’s a round-up of the inspiring posts we and our guest bloggers shared in June.
Two Truths and a Lie about the Seasons of Life
by Michelle Van Loon
“When we focus on what we’re doing, we may miss the opportunity to consider what God himself has built into a season and into our human development that drives what we’re pursuing or focusing on during that time in our lives…”
Good Friends Will Follow You Out the Window
by Amanda Cleary Eastep
“Why do friends get together after so many years have passed and so many miles have separated and so many experiences have transformed them? I guess because we are each others’ youth, and children’s friendships should never be underestimated…”
by Mike Murphy
“The ability to develop and maintain same gender friendships is no small thing. And if a man has a history of broken or non- existent friendships with other men, something is wrong…”
by Neta Jackson
“Fifty-plus years later, I can’t even remember the names of the other “friends” who were with me that day. But Heather is still my best friend, even though we live 2000 miles apart…”
Why Friends Disappear When We Reach Midlife
by Michelle Van Loon
“Midlife strips us of the things that formed our network of relationships back in the old neighborhood of our 20s and 30s: children’s activities or the drive to find meaning in a career. This new life location can be lonely…”
The Solidarity of Intergenerational Friendships
by Jeannie Prinsen
“I’m very different from my mom in some ways: less social, more reserved. But I see her as a positive role model for befriending younger women…There are many ways this befriending can happen…”
95 Meals and the Meaning of Friendship
by Dorothy Greco
“My two communal rituals involve food: our family’s evening dinner and the ninety-five meals I’ve shared with the same three women over the past twenty-two years…”
by Judy Allen
“Some friendships last forever; others endure for a brief time. Friendships, no matter how long they last, are a gift. Relationships have been on my mind, because I recently lost a good friend…”
What happens to friendships with our memories are only ghosts?
By Carlton H. Colby & Amanda Cleary Eastep
“I met J and his younger brother in a crab apple fight. I lost…That’s how I met the two guys that would become my best friends…”
by Anita Lustrea
“I never saw my parents form close friendships. When crisis hit my life and my marriage fell apart, I realized that I had many acquaintances, but no deep experience of friendship…”
Disappointed? Yes. Discouraged? No.
by Dr. Gail Bones
“The news about the project I’ve been pouring myself into for years now was challenging. Well—to be entirely candid—it was more than challenging. I was disappointed…”
by Evelyn Bence
“At a church coffee hour, I accepted the bag of ecru goo. ‘It makes Amish Friendship Bread. In ten days you can bake a loaf, and there’ll still be starter left over to pass along to others. You just mush the bag once a day for five days. Then you add sugar…’ I read the printed directions and tried to comply…”
by Marybeth Davis Baggett
“The years since I’ve turned forty have afforded me the richest education I’ve so far received…Much of this education came, ironically, by way of a period of crushing loneliness following the painful loss of a long-term friendship…”
by Beth Drechsel
“I grew up at Immanuel Mission, a three-room elementary school in northern Arizona in the proud heart of Navajo Land…as one of just a handful of white kids I suffered the pain of racial discrimination, which included both verbal and physical abuse…”
