I Think You’re Swell

Now that I’m spending so much time trying to make new friends, it’s  easy to get lazy when it comes to the old ones. This is not okay. The problem is that I’m not really a phone person, so when I do have a break between working, writing, seeking out new BFFs and, oh yeah, spending time with my husband during our first year of marriage, I want to be living my life rather than recapping it on a long-distance call. That said, no one I meet today will have been my friend in high school or college—as one commenter astutely put it, “It is difficult inserting yourself in someone else’s history”—so I need to give those relationships the attention they deserve.

So it was as if the friendship gods were sending me a message when I came across this statistic from the Gallup organization the other day: “Those who have told a friend how much they value a friendship in the past month are 48% more likely to be ‘extremely satisfied with the friendships’ in their lives.”

Not only will reaching out to my dearest buddies remind them that I think they’re the coolest, it’ll also make me feel better about the overall state of the friendships in my life, which—I don’t know if you’ve noticed—is something I think about sometimes.

So I decided to send out some quick e-cards. A small, easy gesture that could be executed from my cubicle and would deliver the message: “I’m thinking of you. Thanks for being awesome.”

A quick search in the friendship section of my favorite site, someecards.com, returned a card that screamed Sara: “Our effortless friendship fits perfectly with my laziness.” Extra special because yes, our friendship is effortless and yes, I can be lazy, but so is she. I typed up a quick note: “Since we’re both lazy, it’s even better… love you!” and sent it her way. She loved it.

Then I came across another site, Hipster Cards, which has fun vintagey greetings. I sent one that said “Gossip Louder, I Can’t Hear You!” to my friend Emily since it reminded me of the first time she and two other friends came to visit me in Chicago and, because I had to sleep in the other room, I asked them to not talk without me. True story.

The website for the book Friend or Frenemy also has a collection of non-cheesy ecards. Fair warning though, they double as plugs for the book, and look a little more like advertisements than I’d like. Still, when I saw one that said “You’re the Serena to my Blair,” I knew it had to go to Danielle, since 1) I was sure she’s a Gossip Girl fan and 2) she calls me B.

So, in all of 10 minutes, I told three friends how much I value their friendship. I may not have written long odes, but I think the message was delivered.

What do you think of the Gallup statistic? Make sense? And what do you do to tell your BFFs that they’re rock stars?