There’s a passage in the book Julie and Julia that really got me thinking about blogging and friendship. It goes like this:

It is a comfort to have friends, maybe especially friends you will never meet.  Think about it this way: as I awaited a ferry amid thousands of other disheveled Queens secretaries, a woman named Chris in Minnesota was thinking not, “Oh, poor New Yorkers!” but, “Oh, poor Julie!” As I cooked chicken livers with a flashlight under my chin, some guy down in Shreveport was trying to remember if Julie had a gas or electric stove.  Around the country, a small scattering of people who had never been to the city, who had never met me, who had never cooked French food in their life, heard about the blackout and thought about me.  That’s sort of incredible, isn’t it?  Aside from its being an ego-boost, I mean.  Because people who would have looked at this as a disaster happening to other people were suddenly looking at it as a disaster happening to one of their own, to a friend.  I don’t mean this to be arrogance; in fact, I don’t think it has a whole lot to do with me one way or the other.  I think what it means is, people want to care about people.  People look after one another, given the chance.

To put it in context, I think . . .

It means that when Cheryl has her baby, we think about her and send good thoughts her way.

It means that when Carrie’s husband unexpectedly passes away, we rally around her and her kids.

It means when I’m trying to choose pictures for Hannah’s year book I can count on all of you to help me out.

And it means that when my dear friend Margene faces open heart surgery I knit her a shawl.

The pattern is the Celtic Hearts Shawl and I specifically chose it because of the hearts along the border.

I wanted hearts to not only remind Margene of her heart surgery (not that she’ll ever forget) but to also remind her that I love her very much.

And the yarn is Sleeping Dragons Laceweight that I actually bought the last time I visited Margene. I couldn’t think of a better use for this yarn.

The color reminds me of Margene’s blue skies and my blue ocean – the perfect combination of both of our worlds.

Margene is such a dear friend to me and I just wanted to be able to reach across the miles and give her a big giant hug.

My arms aren’t quite that long, though, so this shawl will have to do.