I was having a cocktail with my friend Bart after returning from the holidays, and we were just rehashing our past couple of weeks and talking about what we each have to come in the months ahead.  As we were clinking our glasses to the new year, I said, “You saved my life last year.”  I meant it.  I know it sounds dramatic, but he really had saved my life: he was the person who swept me up when I was a puddle on the floor.  If you have been through a divorce you know what I am talking about.  Or if you have been through any life-altering tragedy, you know.

He was the friend who dropped everything when I called sobbing and listened while I droned on and on about the daily issues I was facing as my 30-year marriage was collapsing around me.  He was also the friend who told me I was wrong when I was wrong (which did not even happen one time, I must say).

Then I started thinking about other friends who, whether they knew it or not, had been a bridge for me to cross from one day to the next day when I wasn’t sure I would make it.  It may sound dramatic, but if you have been there, you know.  Each and every one was my lifesaver on one or more days. Whether it was a friend who told me he was proud of me or a couple who invited me over for Tuesday dinner,  those have been as important to my forward motion as attorneys and accountants.

So my charge to anyone reading this is to remember to be a friend.  That’s it, just be a good friend.  Easy right? You never know what’s going on behind the scenes in someone’s life.