Elegant Gathering of the White Snows

This book has the rare lineage of being one Denise read first. I read nearly every book that comes into the house first. Knitting, working a second job, reading Animorphs because another female in my life loves them...all have been coming first. The really notable thing about Denise reading it first though is that she turned to me just a way into the book and said do you want to take a walk? I said "right this minute?" She laughed and said she knew that is what I would say. The back story to that is all irrelevant, but she also knew me. Now, this whole walking thing made me curious. What could that book possibly be?

Well, it is a book about a walk, and it is a book about women, and a book about the magic of women's friendships. That means...it made me want to talk about women and friendships. I have been incredibly honored to be friends with a number of women in my life. Friends like the ones in Elegant Gathering. Yes, the sort of friends you drop everything for and go for a walk with.

I want my girls to have those fall in love, women in their lives that they know will be there for them. I want them to know these things, know the kind of friendships that women have. I wish there was a way for all girls to find that, without all the girls are mean, silly, stupid that so often comes before that point. I want them to know it without worrying what that might mean for them as far as their sexuality. I want to tell my children of all the amazing women in my life that I have loved and adored and taken care of and have taken care of me...friends. Not lovers. Not even potential lovers, just friends...the special kind of women friends. sigh. I don't think that is something a mom can ever explain to her child though, or anyone else. I think that you grow up, you allow yourself to have those friendships, then one day the light clicks on and you realize that your mother had them as well. If you are lucky that way. Sometimes you learn your mother missed out on a whole lot of specialness. I am glad my mother didn't. I am glad I didn't. As I watch my girls make friends, I am betting they won't either.