This collaborative effort is an ongoing project started by Stephanie Sprenger of Mommy, For Real and Jessica Smock of School of Smock. We have been sharing essays on women’s friendship, both our own, and other women.

Here’s Stephanie’s introduction to the series:

I recently finished a remarkable book, She Matters: A Life in Friendships by Susanna Sonnenberg. As a writer and a woman who may be a bit obsessed with memorializing life events and people, this book ignited a spark inside me. As I devoured each chapter, I found myself imagining, if I were writing a book about the friendships that were formative in my life, who would I write about? I couldn’t stop thinking about the book, and reflecting on my childhood, college years, and adult life, and the women who were instrumental in shaping me during these years.

I told my friend and fellow blogger, Jessica of School of Smock, how much I was enjoying the book, and she picked it up and also finished it quickly. As it turns out, reading the book evoked the same response in her as it did in me. An idea was born.

Female friendship is an extremely rich and complex topic. From the childhood friend who broke your heart to the college roommate who witnessed you at your highest (literally?) and lowest, from the lost friendship that ended bitterly to the devoted companion who is still in your life, from the bond that was forged due to shared grief to the shaky connection born with new motherhood, we would like to explore as many layers of friendship as we can.  We want to hear about the friends that have been influential in your lives.

Friendship with other women can be awkward at times; I have often felt like I was going out on a nerve-wracking first date when making new friends. These bonds can be more intimate than marriage, and just as essential to emotional health. Some of us may reveal more of ourselves to our girlfriends than we do to our partners. I believe we get something unique out of each individual friendship, and even those friends who are no longer in our lives are still a part of our history.