Girlfriends

Today I am THRILLED AND HONORED to welcome my girlfriend,  Beth Hoffman, as a guest poster.  Beth, as you ALL know, is the NYT Best Selling Author of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt, my top book choice of 2010!  Here is my list with my gal Cee Cee on top. 

Without further adieu, here is Beth:

When I began to write Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, I had a general idea what it would be about, but as the story took shape, I was surprised to see how the women in Savannah—women of different ages, cultures, and race—arrived in my imagination and all but demanded to be a part of CeeCee’s life. They all had something to offer, and they offered it freely.

These women represented many things: one of the most important was the gift of acceptance and friendship. Whether in their mid-forties or their late eighties, the women in CeeCee’s life shared their wisdoms and quirks, and because of their generous spirits, CeeCee found a sense of belonging as she took her first fragile steps upon the road to healing.

These women were unlikely girlfriends, but girlfriends just the same.

At the age of eighteen I opened the door to womanhood and viewed a world that appeared as a smorgasbord of countless possibilities. I couldn’t wait to gorge myself on the goodness that waited. The most vivid memory of that seminal year happened on a Friday afternoon. I was driving down a country road in an old convertible with my girlfriends, the sun splashing across the windshield as we shrieked with laughter about some absurd thing that I’ve long since forgotten. Out of nowhere it began to rain, and while the droplets ran down our faces, we held our hands high in the air and proclaimed ourselves anointed with the promise of the brightest futures imaginable.

I felt invincible that day. We all did.

None of us knew that our euphoria was a temporary thing—that we’d be visited by sorrows and heartache—some of which would knock us to our knees. Yet as I look back over the years of struggles and perplexities and triumphs of life, I marvel at how one thing has remained constant—the importance of girlfriends.

Men come and go. Careers change. Family scatters. But girlfriends, the ones who are true-blue, are there for the long haul. Whether they live across the street, across town, or across the country, our girlfriends are always at the ready. They laugh with us, cry with us, and cheer us on. They revel in our successes and they love us when we’re at our worst as much as when we’re on top of the world.

The characters in CeeCee’s story taught her these things.

As I wrote the manuscript, old memories were awakened and I often found myself reflecting on the many women who have touched my life in simple yet remarkable ways. I recently read somewhere that August 1^st is officially Girlfriends Day. But to my way of thinking, every day of the year brings us the opportunity to celebrate the gift of friendship, so why wait?

I had planned to write another paragraph or two, but I’ve got to run—I’m meeting a girlfriend for coffee!

 Beth Hoffman is the New York Times bestselling author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

 What are you reading and where are you going, Girlfriends?