Exploring one of life's most valuable gifts
One of my favorite holiday traditions in Chicago is visiting the Christmas Around the World and Holiday of Lights exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. When my boys were young, we’d bring them to see the dozens of Christmas trees decorated to represent cultures around the world. While we loved seeing all of the trees, we’d... Continue Reading →
While November signals the start of the holiday season for most people, here at Language of Friendship, we tend to think of November as birthday season. Sara shared last year that our LOF editorial team, and even her dog Winnie, all have birthdays within the same week! And despite how busy life gets, birthdays provide... Continue Reading →
When Sara and I launched this blog in early 2021, pandemic-disrupted friendships and everyday connections fueled our desire to write about the importance of friendship. Nearly three years later, life has mostly returned to ‘normal.’  While normal enables us to gather in person and hop on airplanes to celebrate milestones, normal can also be very... Continue Reading →
If you've ever seen the opening sequence of the movie Zero Dark Thirty, then you've heard my college friend Melissa Doi's beautiful voice. I still haven't seen the movie, but I remember well the first time I heard the recording used in that movie of Melissa's actual 9-1-1 call to emergency services from the 83rd... Continue Reading →
Years ago, I quit my job in New York City and was in the process of moving out of my apartment for a new adventure in Boston when I decided to drop everything and fly out to Los Angeles for my dear friend Steph's wedding. I had no budget for this, so fortunately I found... Continue Reading →
June has always been a month of celebrations in my family. My dad and two older sisters were born in June, my parents were married in June, and of course, there’s Father’s Day. Mixed in with an already busy month, my dad generally preferred if no fuss was made over him. In his mind, he... Continue Reading →
Lately I’ve been experiencing an emotion I was introduced to early last year when I read about it in famed vulnerability researcher Brene Brown’s helpful book, Atlas of the Heart, which Julia and I both wrote about in separate posts. The emotion is called Freudenfreude, and it’s a mouthful, but really it’s just the feeling... Continue Reading →
April is one of my favorite months. While March signals the start of Spring, it’s April when flowers start reliably blooming, even for those of us living in the Northern parts of the United States. The days are getting longer, and it’s hard not to be optimistic when warmer weather awaits. Even the name ‘April’... Continue Reading →
I am a cat person. I like dogs too, but it was a cat who kept me company during my years of teen angst in the 1980s, another cat who was my steadfast companion during my divorce when I only had my boys 50% of the time, and three small cats who turned my house... Continue Reading →
Guest post alert: This week, my sister Liz Witherspoon shares memories of a friendship between our mom and uncle that has inspired the next generation of cousins to form tight bonds of their own. As the wheels touch down in Buenos Aires, my phone pings with Whatsapp pictures and messages from my cousins and sister... Continue Reading →
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