We'll always have V.C. Andrews

For this week's Friendship Friday post, I'm going to talk about a few women I met through a book club I created a long time ago (for V.C. Andrews fans) and still managed to stay in touch (or in some cases, reunite) with them after it dissipated.

S.B.: When she was in the club, she was one of the long distance (for me) members I got to talk with by phone. I think we may have lost contact for a few years but somehow managed to reunite way before Facebook even came about. I can't even remember how we were able to reunite. Maybe we just held onto each other's e-mail addresses? I do remember telling her when I was trying out for a community production of "Little Shop of Horrors" and that was in 2001. So not too much time was lost. At one point, she was pregnant with her second child and I was pregnant with my first. Our kids were born 6 months apart. We caught up with each other through livejournal for a while, but now it's all about Facebook. I hope we will continue to stay in touch.

C.K.: I don't think we ever lost touch because we were always e-mailing outside of the club. We both liked the same kinds of books and talked about Broadway musicals a lot. I think she's the one who initially recommended "Jemima J" to me. Over time, we continued to stay in contact and always share our good news with each other. In 2008, we finally got to meet in person (after 12 years) during my first visit to DC. It was nice to meet her and her husband and I was glad she got the opportunity to meet my family. She was really nice to my kids too. As luck would have it, she had to go to NYC the following spring for something work related. We met up with her in the city afterward and had a fun time chatting again. I think I'll always tease her about Abu-Dhabi as a result of that weekend. :) Recently, she had a baby girl and I'm very happy for her. She's going to be a wonderful mother.

J.G.: I think I stayed connected with her through S.B. We may have also lost track of each other for a short time, but that was it. She and I also have a lot of interests in common, such as all the Broadway musicals we both love. We also love Katherine Stone books and we used to read and discuss them all. I've introduced her to several of my friends with whom she also has things in common. I know she has a major soap opera obsession and she seems to meet a lot of the actors from her favorite soaps. I know she's also working on writing a novel and I wish her all the best with that. I'm glad we're able to keep up with each other through Facebook as she is sweet and fun to talk to.

B.P.: I think we lost track of each other for a longer period of time after the club dispersed. The next thing I knew was that she was married with children. Either that or time has gone by in a blur. I keep up with her on Facebook and through her blog. We still have a lot of similar interests and I enjoy catching up with her. She seems like she's enjoying life and that she always gets to do fun things with her kids. It's just too bad we weren't in touch the one time I was out in her neck of the woods. In any case, I'm glad we reconnected. She's very nice and down-to-earth. She sometimes surprises me with talking about stuff I didn't know we would have in common.

A.S.: We just reunited over the past year through a friend we know thanks to an ex-friend (who was also part of the club), if that makes any sense. (Long story there.) I think we probably surprised each other with how much we both changed in terms of our religious observance. She seems really happy and I'm glad things are going well for her. We don't catch up all that often, but I do see pictures and status updates once in a while. I know she also just had a baby and I'm very happy for her too.

A while back, I talked about J.J., whom I also met through the club. However, we still contact each other whenever we come across anything V.C. Andrews related. It's like a force of habit. :)

Even though it has been ages since I gave the club itself much thought, I still remember all the interesting people I met through it at the time. I'm very glad to still be in contact with the ones I mentioned in this blog. However, there are a few others with whom I would love to reconnect someday. I think it might be hard if they aren't on Facebook or don't go by a last name I'd remember from that time period. I figure that just like with the women mentioned here, even if I don't reconnect with anyone else from the club, we'll always have V.C. Andrews and those few years of bonding over her books.