Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?

"Ain't it good to know 

that you've got a friend?

People can be so cold

They'll hurt you 

and desert you

They'll take your soul if you let them. . . 

.  . . but don't you let them."

~ Carole King

____________________________________

I am so fortunate to have a cohort of very, very good sister-friends. The kind that get so close to you that sometimes you don't know where you end and they begin. Because so much of who you are is intertwined. Overlapping life experiences may have brought you together, but that's not what keeps you together. You know. . .shared things like pledging sorority or going to medical school or doing a residency or working at a place like Grady Hospital. Yes, those things start you off as peers or constituents but what happens next requires two percent choice and ninety-eight percent magic.

Yeah.

I've experienced that magic and am so, so glad that I have. Man, I am. Because when the magic is there, the choice part is easy-peasy. And it doesn't require much effort. Okay, I mean, sometimes it does, but mostly it doesn't. And that's something I'm very grateful for.

Very.

Over the past weekend, three of those magical sister-friends and I aligned our schedules to jump into a car and drive more than seven hours to see another of our sister-friends. A special weekend for five special sister-friends.

Five women who originally overlapped when pledging sorority together at the same college more than twenty years ago and with super busy, grown-woman lives plus or minus children (pleural), husbands (singular), demanding careers, and day-to-day operations that get so crazy at times that even answering a phone call seems like a tall order. But like I said before, when that magic is present, the choice part is easy.

Yeah, it is.

Boy, did we have fun. . . . 

We talked and talked and talked and talked. And laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. And you know? We cried some, too. And all of it was safe and wonderful. It was. There was permission to speak freely without fear of judgement or unwanted repetition or psychoanalysis.

Which, if you ask me, is super, super awesome.

And just. . . .easy.

I've said it here before and I'll say it again. Women need women friends. We need each other to be stronger and better and bigger and brighter. We do.

Beware of the woman with no women-friends. For reals.

So me? I'm fortunate to have my very own collection of magical sister-friends of many beautiful hues from multiple phases of my life. I'm proud to have the ones I have and so happy to know our lives were in the right place at the right time for that magic to happen.

And I'm especially glad we all made the same choice at the same time to keep it that way.

Yeah.

***
Happy Monday.

Now playing on my mental iPod. . . . I'm equally in love with both versions of this song. It just depends upon my mood. . . but since JT and Donny Hathaway are two of my favorites, I can never go wrong with either.

First, this one from James Taylor (with Carole King):

Love how JT sings in such a quiet and tender way. I always find myself wondering how he found his singing voice. It seems like something that happened by accident. This makes me love him even more.



And next, this soulful rendition from Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. Good heavens, y'all. I love, love, love the smoky and haunting tone of Donny Hathaway's voice--ESPECIALLY when he comes in on that second stanza. He just KILLS it when he says, "Mmmmmmm, close your eyes and think of me. . . and soooooon I will there. . .to brighten up. . .eeeeeeee-ven your darkest nights." Chile, please. Beyonce's riffs ain't got NOTHIN' on Donny's. He KILLS it, do you hear me? I always yell the same thing the moment he comes in behind Roberta:

"YOU BETTA SING THAT SONG, MR. DONNY HATHAWAY!"

Ha ha ha.



Which version of this classic gets your vote? Who are some of your special can't-live-without sister-friends?