On Friendship and Traveling Pants

I just finished reading the "Traveling Pants" series-- a set of 4 books that began with "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", and follows 4 friends and their summer adventures throughout high school and the first year of college. I will admit that by the 4th book, the story line is pretty predictable: girl wrestles with something tumultuous, doubts herself, and then figures it out and all is well with the world again by the end of the story. Still, since they are sequels, it's nice to see the characters develop and some of the original story lines continue.

Anyway, the thing that struck me the most about this book was the enduring friendship of the 4 main characters-- girls who were all born around the same time, and who have been friends their whole lives. No matter what happened with their lives, no matter what they did, that friendship always transcended everything, and served as their lifeline when they were adrift. Your friends are always there for you, willing to drop everything to come to your aid when you most need it.

It struck me that I'd never HAD that kind of friendship before. These days, my husband is my best friend, of course, and we relate to each other as best friends do. But... that's sort of the way it's supposed to be. Yet for me, such close friendships outside of my marriage simply do not exist. Oh sure, I've had plenty of friends that know me reasonably well and that I have fun hanging out with. But I've never really had a close girlfriend. One that I could confide the deepest recesses of my soul in, one that I could just feel comfortable being myself with-- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It makes me a bit wistful when I read books or see movies where such close friendships are a prevalent part of the story. I guess, in a way, it's romanticizing something I've never had, something I sometimes long for. And it's a big part of why I enjoyed the Traveling Pants books-- the bond these girls had was something I had never experienced firsthand, so I liked reading about it. It's almost as if I was experiencing it, vicariously, through them. I don't know if I'll ever experience a friendship like that in real life. But if I don't, I guess I can always enjoy reading about it! :-)

On a side note, I went on Netflix to see if they had the movie version of the book (it's in my DVD queue now). However, I can't believe they cast Alexis Bledel in the role of Lena. She is soooo not what I pictured Lena to be! I mean, she's pretty, but Lena is supposed to be breathtakingly gorgeous. Well, maybe her acting will make up for it. We'll see...