Today I had such an awesome afternoon. As I drove home from Boston I couldn’t help but just be happy. Why? Girlfriends.

First I met my very good friend Ann for lunch. We met about 5 years ago professionally. Ann was in advertising in NYC and has fabulous stories about the good old days. She went to Mount Holyoke (a fellow Seven Sister college just down the road from Smith). She is funny and fun and so smart and laid back and silly but thoughtful. Love her. It doesn’t hurt that she always takes me to her club for lunch because she knows I adore their turkey sandwiches. We just had an hour together before she had to head back to work, and it didn’t feel long enough. Could have sat there for hours talking.

Then it was on to the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum to meet a new friend, a fellow author, Alisa Libby. Alisa and I participate in the same YA blog site (YA Outside the Lines). Alisa and I write vastly different novels but that’s the thing about writers, I truly have not met a YA writer I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Alisa and I ate dessert (flourless chocolate cake for me, yummy) and chatted about writing, frustrations, encouragements, and just shared stories. Although we’d never met in person before, it was a relaxed easy hour.

There are women who are girls girls and women who prefer hanging with the guys. I have no problem hanging with the guys but, boy, I sure do love my female friends. They make me very happy and I don’t know what I’d do without them.