I saw I had been tagged on Facebook by one of my friends. Her daughter in college had received the package of cookies I’d mailed a couple days earlier, and she kindly commented on our friendship and my care and love for her daughter.

It’s amazing how the timing of a comment can sweeten the encouragement. Only a few minutes before seeing the post, I had received a text from a friend who updated me on the condition of her adult son, who was in the battle for his life. Such difficult news to face, to watch my friend face.

The juxtaposition of those two messages with friends made me consider the importance of friendship. We do life together. We help each other. We say the tough things to each other, and we work through the messes of life. We build trust, we apologize, we abundantly give and forgive. We sit in silence and chat nonstop. We ask questions of doubt and we wrestle for the answers. We anticipate what each other will need and we give away what we have.

In fact, we give away bits of ourselves.

Friendships are sweet. And sometimes bittersweet.

Savor them.