Life is Friends

Lucy with two of her bestest friends Anise Wilde and Tessa Smith.



I just finished a great book. One that I think others should read.
Life is Friends by Jeanne Martinet.

"Most people are open to meeting new people and eager to make friends. Indeed, the pervasiveness of the Internet in our lives - and the staggering popularity of sites like Match.com, Facebook and My Space - shows just how much we hunger for connection. The Internet provides the ultimate pathway to other people. However, the miracle of being able to email (or video chat with) people anywhere in the world often blinds us to the fact that this technology is a means to an end, not the end itself. We now have instant access to an unlimited number of people, but how do we go from sharing our profile with someone to becoming good friends?..... Ironically, as we become more and more involved with communication technology, we seem to be communicating less and less. Out on the street, in the elevator, in the coffee shop, in the check out line at the store - practically everyone has a Bluetooth device in their ear and is talking to someone, but hardly ever the person right in front of them."

I have been thinking about this quite a lot lately. As I drive my babysitters home and they text to someone else while they mildly listen to what I am saying. As I talk to someone on the phone and I can hear they are in a store paying for something and not being fully present with me OR the person in the store. As I feel I need some outside contact with adults and instead of calling someone, I get onto facebook.

This book really encouraged me to take action. I am pretty good at having people into my home. I invite couples for games or food and I hold ladies lunches during the day sometimes. But I think we all need to do more.

She has a chapter on dinner parties and how sad it is that it is less common now to have dinner parties. Or book clubs. OR those kinds of events. Now I know quite a few people who do go to book clubs. But I know a lot more people who see the internet as their only connection to others. I think it is interesting to think that the technology we are trying to use to reach out to others for contact is sometimes the thing that is isolating us.

At the end of the book the author says this " The life you build with the people you love is your most important life project - one that sustains you, feeds you. Authentic connection with people is what matters. You can't count on wealth or health; you can count on friendship, whether the friends are your family or not."

Any thoughts on this from you all?