The sweetness of systergy

There are so many wonderful women in my life that I suppose I sometimes take them for granted. 

Which is why I think I had the dream I had this week. 

Here's the redux:

A group of women I'm friendly with, all of whom have children my daughter's age, had organized a playdate, one to which all of the mothers and daughters in our circle were invited, except my daughter and me. 

I was devastated at having being excluded, and needed to tell someone.   

But when I sought out those who were mother/big sister figures in whom I hoped to confide my grief, each was genuinely concerned for about five minutes, and then had to run off, being 'late for a very important date'.

And so the devastation continued.

Having to dash off to to an investor meeting in midtown Manhattan helped me shake off my early morning sadness.

I'm grateful, however, for the lingering reminder...

...that we sometimes need to taste the bitter in order to prize the sweet.

The sweetness of systergy.

***

I do, I do, I do prize systergy -- but perhaps it is too abstract.

Which is why I was inspired by Gretchen Rubin's post 12 tips for acting like a true friend over at The Happiness Project.  This post provides great helps for getting into our systergistic groove, including:  1) Be supportive when your friend has good news; 2)  Be friendly to your friend's friends; 3)  Show up. 

My favorite tip is... Well, actually take a look at her blog.

Any recent experience that brought into relief the importance of systergy?

Which of Gretchen's tips do you think is my favorite?

Which is yours?

Any difference between what you give as a friend and what it's important for you to receive?

Related posts:
The dark side of systergy
Of pineapples and friendship
Celebrating systergy
Three cheers for oxytocin

Comments

[Matt Langdon]

I would guess #12 which could have read, "Dare your friends to dream."

[Jaime]

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. As I've been pursuing my dream to start a new school, it's been more difficult to maintain friendships.

Then about a week ago I had to take the little one to the hospital--she was burning up with fever. And one of the sweet sisters from my Sunday School class called to check up on me when I wasn't in church. It was then that I knew I wasn't without good friends. I still had them, and luckily they understand the chaos of the times.

[Macy]

I'm sorry about the exclusion. That always hurts. I've been there more than I would like. Good turnaround to find something positive and I really enjoyed reading the friendship post you linked to. I'm sure your favorite was #12. I liked them all, but I really liked #7. Because I love kids, I've always tried to do this and the fact that Neal is amazing at this is one of the things that drew me to him in the first place.