How to Better Appreciate One's "Gal Friends"

If you are anything like me, you treasure your gal friends, those whom you've known since childhood when you skipped rope, played jacks and read "16 Magazine" beneath a weeping willow tree with a bag of penny candy close beside. But as we have grown older, we have added other girlfriends to the mix, those whom we double dated with, their boyfriends best buds with yours, gals we worked with, cried with and laughed with, college roommates and even those women we shared our kids early years complete with play dates and growing up discussions. But we all know that some friendships come and go, some are very transient to the point that we move on to other gals when instances in our lives change and gladly do so as well.

That said, we also have found women that we were drawn to because of a shared love for a hobby, interest or simply because it felt right to connect at that time. Recently I was fortunate enough to come across a book which addressed the last type of friendship, the one where you "for one reason or another" create a bond without forced camaraderie or effort and one in which you feel totally comfortable sharing any part of your life which might occur as the days and weeks go by. Below is my opinion on said book. It touched me as few books have in recent years and I wanted to share it with others in the hopes that it too will touch you as well.

"Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 8 pm, no exceptions" begins this journey into the world of Georgia and Dakota, better known as Walker and daughter. These two demonstrate from the very beginning, the true nature of strong women, and a strength that belies the youth of Dakota whom yet to be a teen, has a maturity that far surpasses many women who find themselves interwoven into The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate jacobs.

We meet Anita, whom from the very first meeting realized the potential of Georgia, giving her not just a fresh start in life but a sense of self, a support network and most of all a friendship that proves throughout the book how much each woman helps the other and how through their friendship they can face the worst life can offer.

Through young Dakota, the Friday night knitting club is born and in its birth, a group of women meet and develop bonds that strengthen through pregnancy, divorce, separation and even infidelity. With the bonding of these women they find they help not only each other to grow but grow themselves in the process, with the end result being women who are true to themselves and each other to the end.

The Friday Night Knitting Club with Peri, Anita, Darwin, Lucie, and K.C., find within the group not only a deep friendship beginning with Georgia and Dakota, but with one another as well. A friendship, that had they met on the street, most likely would not have grown as deep. But through The Friday Night Knitting Club, these women develop a bond that knits them into a closely woven group of women who truly care for and about one another despite what life may toss their way.

This book is at times a laugh out loud book, a "sit and think" book and even a quiet weeping book, but most of all it is an affirmation for each and every woman who ever doubted her strength and worth in life. It is a book that despite the age of the reader will cause one to close the final page, more confident and richer in wisdom than can ever be described upon this page.

I sincerely found this book to be a book that really touched me emotionally as well as brought to light not only my strengths but my weakness' within the characters on its pages. And as I read the last chapter, I found myself strongly drawn to this friendship circle that these women shared.

For you see, I have a similar circle of friends, that while we were thrown together as strangers, have become despite our backgrounds, upbringing and locations, a unit that is closer than some sisters. We are, for want of a better description, a group of women who gain strength from each others strengths and bolster each other when times get tough.

My wish for all women who read this book would be that you too would find a group of which you grow in friendship and in knowledge, in spirit and in heart. I wish for you a group like The Friday Night Knitting Club. For I believe if we all could be touched by such a group just once in our lives, we would be not just better people but better "us" as well.

Read this book and give it to a special woman in your life. Now is the time to do it. Tomorrow never comes as we all know and there is never enough time to enjoy life. Read this book and let me know what you think......I sincerely believe it will touch you as it did me and that you'll be a better person for having read it, I certainly know I am.