Happiness Project: The Girls Scouts had it right on friendship

It’s July, but I need to add a postscript to June’s chapter on friendship.  In the chapter, Gretchen Rubin makes some great suggestions about making friends: Smile more frequently, invite others into conversation, create a positive mood, and more (pages 158-9).

In the last week or so, after months of making new friends after our move, I’ve had time to reconnect with old friends. I went back to North Carolina for the annual girlfriend beach trip. Before I left, as I read through the guest book we’ve been signing for 16 years, I was reminded of those little details in life that make the most fun, the most laughter.

I’ve spent the last couple of days at Summer Celebration, a conference on the campus of Lipscomb University, where I attended college forty years ago. I’ve seen so many old friends, former professors, even the lady who worked in the registrar’s office (the problem solver). To add to the fun, four car loads of friends from the church we attended in Hickory were there too. It has felt like Old Home Week, reminding me that maintaining those long-time friendships is worth the effort–without question.