The Gift of Friendship

by Lois Jamieson

“A constant friend is a thing rare and hard to find.” -Plutarch

Yesterday I met with some writer friends. But let me start at the beginning.

Fifteen years ago I felt the need to get back to writing after some years of sporadic work.I had the good fortune to find a Writer’s Work-Shop at the local Senior Center. I had attended many creative writing classes and seminars, but never a workshop – and there is a difference.

The workshop offered three sessions a year – fall, winter and spring. As luck would have it the instructor was a wonderful writer and teacher, Marilyn McGrath.
I quickly signed up for the first session and that was the smartest “writing” decision I have ever made. I didn’t know anyone in the class of 8 writers and I’ll admit I felt a bit awkward at first. By the end of the first six week session I was in my comfort zone, mostly because of the talented and very kind men and women in the class.

I signed up for the next two sessions and was delighted to find many of the same faces. By the end of that first year, we had bonded with Marilyn and decided to carry on for the next year’s sessions. Amazingly, we all continued in the workshop for nine years, until finally Marilyn told us that she had no more to teach us and she was retiring. We moaned and groaned to no avail, and then decided we would continue meeting. Marilyn decided to join us and the Via Linda Writer’s Group was born.

We have encouraged each other in our writing and have developed a strong friendship along the way. My co-blogger, Phoebe has published a book,as have Marilyn, Dana and Jim. Tova has a book of published poems to her credit. Mary has written a little children’s book with her granddaughter and shares it each year with the kindergarten class at StarShine Academy.
I blog with my daughter – www.kidswithoutstuff.com as we write our book Kids Without Stuff, and , of course, Phoebe and I have our blog Ageless At 80, which we hope to turn into a book.

Yes, good friendships are a rare and wonderful thing.