From the Editor

It’s often said that people enter our lives for a reason or for a season. Some last just long enough to see you through a certain stage of life, while others endure for years, even decades, when two people just click. 

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While I know women who have a single best friend or tight group of friends who are inseparable, sharing all aspects of their lives for years and years, I am more of a “reason or season” friend. I do have friends from decades past with whom I reconnect on occasion, though having lived in multiple states, I am physically far removed from the friendships of my formative years. While I deeply treasure those opportunities, I find that my connections tend to shift and evolve and are often centered around commonalities in current interests or life stages. I have my running and hiking friends, the connections I’ve made through volunteer commitments or church, work colleagues and my “mom friends.” 

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Making calls for this issue’s cover story gave me an opportunity to reconnect briefly with two women who fall into that “mom friend” category. We met many years ago as relatively new moms seeking connections through the Holmen MOMS Club. That group was a lifeline for me as a stay-at-home mom, working just part-time from home, living in a community and state I had moved to just a year before my son was born. Many in the group were in similar situations: not originally from the area, not working outside the home to find friendships in the workplace, and with children still too young for the built-in connections that would come later through sports, Scouts, 4-H and school.

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Those regular MOMS Club meetings and activities, with an opportunity to connect with other women experiencing the same challenges I was facing, kept me grounded. I remain very close to one friend from those days, along with a couple dozen other women I can easily slip into conversation with when we cross paths around town or coordinate a catch-up night once or twice a year. But I do miss the consistency of knowing that a chance to unload, commiserate, laugh and relax is on my calendar. I’m just a bit envious of the bunco ladies who are still, 14 years later, keeping those connections alive and reaping the benefits, and it was wonderful to spend just a few minutes catching up with a couple of them, if only on the phone.

Of course, the real value of groups like those in the profile story is the in-person connection. Face-to-face interactions. Like the ones you can have over coffee and a sandwich in places designed to slow down and enjoy the atmosphere. There is no shortage of options around the Coulee Region, and we highlight two longtime favorites in our Food story. Whether you are enveloped in the aroma of fresh-roasted coffee at Acoustic Café or join the sidewalk gang gathered in warmer months outside Blooming Grounds Coffeehouse, downtown Winona is a great place to join a friend for a cuppa and conversation.

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Friendships can fuel career collaborations such as those among designers in our Careers story or between health care professionals in our Personal & Professional story, revive long-lost passions such as a love of basketball, or even center on supporting organizations that are the foundation of a healthy community. Thumb through these pages to find those stories of what can happen when like minds come together around a common goal.

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Of course, some friendships are only for a season, and if that “season” ends abruptly, local mental health professionals say it is normal to grieve and to have conflicting emotions, regardless of who ended the relationship. Read our Healthy Living story for insights into maneuvering through shifting tides of grief, guilt and doubt while keeping your footing and moving forward.

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Wherever you find friends, treasure them. And if, like me, you find that you may be letting things drift away when you don’t intend to, it’s never too late to write a note, send a text, make a call and let them know you are thinking of them. If they are close enough, meet up for coffee. You’ll be glad you did.