Wednesday, July 4, 2012




MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend  by Rachel Bertsche


This book had me at hello so to speak.  I read the title and I couldn’t resist picking up the book.  The theme of this book is finding a gal pal, that person or persons you can call up and just talk on the phone with or make plans to do a girls night etc.  Most importantly it is someone who you trust, someone who you share a piece of yourself with. They are your people like Meredith and Christina in Grey’s Anatomy. The author takes you on her year long journey to find a new BFF.  Actually she is looking for several.  Why is she doing this?  She lived in New York and had two best friends who she had known practically forever but while in college she met a guy.  After college he ended up living in Chicago and she decided to move in with him. She ended up marrying him and lleaving her gal pals in the big NY.  While she loved her husband she felt she was missing something, a best girlfriend(s).
As she finds out and many of you out there already know, it is not easy to find friends who you connect with once you leave high school and college. In today’s world it can be even harder because women are juggling so many things at one time, relationship, motherhood, often jobs leaving little time for you. It’s not like you can walk into a bar, go up to the bartender and say I am looking for a new BFF do you know anyone who would fit the bill?  
The author discusses her strategy for identifying candidates who might be new gal pal material including advertising for MWF Seeking BFF. She goes on a yearlong quest to find new good friends.  She shares her “girl dates” with the reader.  In addition, she shares her research about how friends can have an effect your self-esteem, coping mechanisms and morale.  She also discusses the statistics on types and number of friends a person tends to have and she categorizes them into three categories.  For example, you might typically have 100 or more acquaintances.  These are people that you know through organizations, maybe work that you chat with if you see them in the grocery store or around town. That is the extent of the contact.  You really don’t interact with them socially.  So I shared one category but I will let you read the book to get the skinny on the other two.
While I sometimes found the author to be a little whiney and needy, overall I really enjoyed the book and all the research she did on friendship and its importance. I consider myself extremely fortunate for all the friends in my life.  Life would be so dull without you all. 

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