Is there a bestie in your life now?
by Sondra Forsythe of Third Age
Celebrity best friends Barbra Streisand and Donna Karan have famously continued their close connection with one another for over 20 years. Babs, who will turn 70 in April of 2012, recently took the stage at the Dream Foundation’s annual gala to present the evening’s award to the 64-year-old creator of DKNY clothing labels for her tireless work in helping grant wishes for the terminally ill…
Thinking about those notable pairings got us to wondering about whether a bond between two women is as important during the ThirdAge as it may have been in earlier years. Most of us had a best friend in elementary school. Psychiatrists say that’s because females are destined to nurture emotional connections and so they need to start practicing when they’re very young. Guys, on the other hand, are more likely to have hail-fellow-well-met pals. Little boys chase one another and roughhouse while little girls talk to one another. This pattern typically continues through the decades so that men end up mostly getting together to watch or play sports or talk business and women become one another’s confidantes. That’s not true across the board, of course. People are individuals. But in general, women are the heart-to-heart specialists of the species.
That being so, do our female friendship needs change with the passing of years? Irene S. Levine, PhD, the author of "Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup With Your Best Friend," told us that in her practice as "The Friendship Doctor" she has observed that each woman’s core personality becomes more pronounced with age.
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