Friendships serve as a cornerstone to a rich life. Each of these twenty-four accomplished authors share authentic stories that consider the meaning of life affirming, sometimes life-saving or gut-wrenching, and fun realities of investing in each other: think Chicken Soup with adult beverages.

The investment in friendship offers a reciprocal return that may support you and your friend throughout life's challenges and joys. Friends: Voices On The Gift Of Companionship presents genuine and literary accounts of shared experiences with those who energize and shape all our days. Share these stories with your friends.

• Celebrate and clarify the value of friendships.
• Honor those who have helped you through life's challenges.
• Acknowledge the profound value of the big friend, the one who moved through life's phases with you.
• Recognize the importance of the friends who have served as witness to your growth and change.
• Remember the friends you lost along the way but who brought you and still bring you joy.
• Learn the value of a friendship that changes.
• Accept the times no one stood with you.
• Consider the meaning of the memories no one ever speaks of.
• Navigate the mostly virtual friendships.
• Thank the teachers and the givers.
• Say good-by because it's time or because you have no other choice.
• Navigate relationships when paths diverge.
• Thank a friend, by sharing these stories.

You are invited to consider, value, and celebrate the friendships of your past, present, and future. We recommend reading with a friend or book group-a great gift.