What are the ingredients that make someone a sister, or – even deeper than a sister – a true friend?

Knowing each other for a long time? Being neighbors? Sharing the same problems and challenges? Going on adventures together? Being at the same place in life at the same time?

Friend is a word that gets blanketed over a lot of connections. There are Facebook and Instagram friends. People you know from work, school, Zoom meetings, or classes.

The word friend comes from the Old English word ‘frēond’, which is related to the Old English verb ‘frēon’. Frēon means “to love, like, honor, or set free (from slavery or confinement)”.

I love this distinction because I think, at the very heart of it, the people who I consider my true friends are people who, in some way, set me free.

 

Free from what?

Free from my own doubts about myself. Free from my limitations. Free from a wider culture that wants to keep me small.

We need people who see our greatness, so that when we stumble into our own pitfalls, obstacles, and blindspots, they can catch us before we fall. And remind us of who we truly are.

I am not quite sure how this gift of grace happens. Feels like a wordless deal that gets cut on meeting someone, where you sense the aliveness of the connection and a deeply intuitive part of you just knows.

I met my pal, Amanda Brooks, 25 years ago, when she sailed in, late, to a course I was teaching called ‘Extended Massive Orgasm’. She was 24 years old, and popped herself right smack in the front row, center. (So bold!)

We’ve been front row center in each other’s lives ever since. Deeply devoted to one another’s unfolding storylines.

 

She taught me everything I know about fashion. And in some ways, made me the woman I am by showing me how fashion can accelerate and enhance the communication of who we are to the world. Clothes tell a story and make a statement long before we even open our mouths.

I taught her how to trust her desires. Which has been the catalyst for so many wonderful things, including her marriage, her kids, and her ability to powerfully negotiate a career that has taken off in miraculous directions. I am in awe of all she has created, and continues to create.

Over time, our families grew to include her husband, Christopher, her two kids, Coco and Brooks, my partner, Peter, our daughters, Maggie and Marielle, their partners, Jonas and Rajesh, and now their baby, Caru.

Sometimes, if you are very very lucky, friends turn into family, and family into friends.

I could never have dreamed, that very first day that we met, that this sisterhood friendship love story would grow and expand to include such a glorious gang of brilliant beautiful human beings, who all enjoy the sh*t out of each other.

Or that, 25 years later, we would be pressing apple juice together on a fall day in the Cotswolds, living the actualization of so many of our dreams and desires.

I cherish this time. It feels so sacred.

There were so many hair-raising, hairpin turns in each of our lives, that might have made it impossible for us to have had the particular day that was captured here.

None of us escapes the impossible challenges, tragedy, loss, and devastation that life can serve up. It’s so easy to get sidelined by fear, frustration, or doubt.

I am so grateful for this moment, right here, right now.
For storylines that flow and unfold like a winding river.
For you, reading this post, right now.

A day like this reminds me that every single moment that we are alive is a wildly inexplicable miracle. We simply have to notice.

 

And my desire is that this message hits you at the perfect moment.

That it sets you free to trust the power of your desires – so you can be reminded of the infinite possibility of creation that is all the time, everywhere…even through the hairpin turns.

Who in your life sets YOU free?

Might there be someone who is a good candidate…that you just haven’t noticed, until now? And if so, what will it take for you to prioritize the development of that relationship?

AND if you can’t think of anyone right at this moment, be on the lookout – they may just be on their way to you, now that this portal has opened…

With so much love and pleasure,
Regena