I just finished reading your story after being given it by my wife yesterday afternoon. She had read it whilst sitting bedside in hospital with our four month old son who is recovering from heart surgery. After our recent trials I thought I had little emotional reserves left at the moment. I was wrong.

Thankyou for the tears, laughter, lessons of friendship and forgiveness. Thankyou for helping me to understand my wife and her various female friendship circles.

Thankyou for helping me validate for myself that as a man it is ok to feel more lonely than my wife. Growing up in a similar small town (in Australia - themes and experiences seem universal, certainly in western culture) and having left for a military career twenty years ago, my frienships for the most part are dispersed, transient and periodic, and that is ok.

And finally, thankyou for reminding me to seize the day.

I just recently finished reading this book. It first caught my attention because I am from a small town called Odebolt, Iowa. I just graduated from high school this spring and I will be attending Iowa State University in Ames in the fall. The name caught my eye right away. This whole story reminds me so much of my childhood growing up in Iowa, it is so strange. As I am going to be going off to college in about a week this story really inspired me to make sure I keep in touch with all of my childhood friends as we each begin to take our own paths. I really enjoyed this book!

We were given this book last year by one of the "five best friends" who have been together since even before high school - over 40 years ago. We're now 54 and each year we spend a girls beach weekend together. Like all the postings here I saw so many comparisons to our own group of friends and I can't wait to see the girls next weekend and share since we've all now read the book.
How fascninating for me that it took me a year to read the book since at the same time I decided to finally read it I lost my father, just about amonth ago now. Again so many similarities to our own family sitautions where our parents knew each other and were so much a part of our growing up together and keeping us on the straight and narrow. Several of the other girls have already lost at least one and in one case both parents and I couldn't stop thinking about them as I savored each chapter.
I was especially moved with the chapter about Christie "Their First Child". I've also used Caring Bridge for my dad's struggles and I was enthralled with the references to Christie and her online journal. What a teachable experience for all of the 2nd generation Ames children - beautifully written so the reader can truly feel Christie (and Hanna's) perception and understanding for their life experiences.
Thank you Jeffrey Zaslow and thank you to all the "Ames Girls" for sharing and for opening up many past and future conversations for so many groups of "best friends"!!

I finished reading "The Girls from Ames" last week. It was an amazing book so filled with love like family. When I think about the women in the book, I can't believe how well they kept up their friendship. I'm mesmerized by the fact that eleven women can continue their friendship from childhood into their 40s. At age 23, I sometimes feel like it is impossible to have lifelong friendships without the technology of e-mail, cell phones, and social networking pages. I think about all the people I considered as girlfriends when I was in grade school, and with almost all of them, I have kept zero contact.

In elementary school, my closest friend was Yeng Her. We met in kindergarten, and she and I quickly became buddy-buddy, joined at the hips. All of our classroom stations were done together, and recess was spent together. I can't remember how old she was when she moved away to Miramonte Elementary, but I remember, at that age, feeling that I would miss her dearly because I knew there would not be a way for me to stay in contact with her.

I have a memory of me sitting with her at the school playground. We sat side by side on this plastic, yellow bench that would bounce up and down. We weren't speaking to each other, only staring out at the black top. It would have been a perfect photo of childhood friends. We wore the same navy blue jumper with similar short sleeve white blouses. We were good friends, and we knew it quite well.

Eighteen years have gone by, and she and I haven't seen each other since elementary school. It's almost as if I woke up from a dream to realize that my first true friend really didn't exist at all. She was an angel, a guardian that was sent to teach me a lesson about relationships. Every time that I drive by Miramonte Elementary, I think of her. I remember her, and I remind myself that this is the school that she transferred to.

Occasionally, I wonder how she's doing. Does she have kids? Is she married? Is she still in Fresno, or has she moved away to Minnesota? What is she up to now? I wonder if she will notice me if we ran into each other. Has she changed or is she still the innocent, pretty girl that I remember her as? I sometimes think that maybe, I have ran into her somewhere and did not recognize her. I can only recall her as the dark-complexioned Hmong girl who always had her hair half-up with a pretty red bow and who accepted me for myself and expected nothing more than that. She stood by my side despite my awkwardness in tether ball and the infamous rubber band game.

Yeng is a person that left footprints in my heart that may never be washed away. She taught me the joys of having a girlfriend who never turned away despite all our differences. Because she taught me the feeling of true friendship at such a young age, in the friends that I have gained since her, I search for that. In the four girlfriends that I have now, each one of them loves me like a sister as I do to them. We know that we all have flaws, but instead of pin pointing them, we accept that these flaws are part of who we are. Like the girls in the book, I hope that my girlfriends and I will continue our bond for another twenty more years.

This story is so inspiring! I have a group of girlfriends that have been friends since childhood and can't tell you how wonderful it is to have such a support system! We've even started a collaborative blog together! http://www.lylasandco.com/

The Girls from Ames is truly an amazing story, everyone should be so lucky to have such wonderful girls in their lives!

I just finished the Girls From Ames for the second time. I grew up in Edina, graduated from the same high school as Christie would have in 1981 and went to Iowa State. I lived in Boston for awhile and now live in Virginia - between Angela and Jenny. In addition, my name is Kelly. I feel connected to these women in so many ways.

Tomorrow night I will go to book club armed with pictures of myself in elementary school and high school to discuss the story, these amazing women and our own friendships. I wish I could say that I had done a better job of staying in touch with my Edina friends or my ISU friends but that has not been the case. Today my "coffee friends" are the 6 women who mean the most to me in life. We have been meeting at Starbucks(another connection to the Girls) for more years than we can remember. Our semi-monthly meetings have become our lifeline through cancer, separations, career changes, pre-school years to teen years. Last weekend we picked out the nursing home we all want to go to together.

While I love my husband, it is my friendship with these 6 women that makes me whole, vaidates who I am and has made my 40s the best years of my life. These are my Girls and I am so blessed to have them in my life.

Thanks for the great story. I will read this book each summer and remember my years in Ames with great fondness.

Wow! What a wonderful book....I have a best friend that is more of a sister. We met when we were 16 and are now a comfortable 55! Over the years, we have been each other's shoulder to cry on, supporter, etc. We were in each other's first weddings; consoled each other during our divorces; were there for each other during our second go around at love and remarriage. We have each made other friends outside of our bond--work friends, in-law friends, college friends--but we are still there for each other no matter what. This story reminded me of how lucky I am to have not only my best friend but my other women friends....thank you, thank you for sharing your story!

Take four “girls” who have been friends for 45 years and add another who became part of the esteemed group 39 years ago (the newcomer) and you have the “Bods of ’74” (yr we graduated from HS). Your special book mirrored so much of what we have also been through, from the good times to the hard ones. We even have our own car-in-the ditch-story, complete with a tractor pulling us out! The success of this book proves that these relationships, if we are blessed enough to have them, are as that credit card ad says....priceless! I’m Minnesota proud of you ladies and of the author who understood the importance of telling your story! It didn't surprise me, in the least, that Mr. Zaslow also has a connection with Randy Pausch! Thank you!

I just finished the book and am so appreciative of those who shared their stories. I loved the book from beginning to end. I am part of a group of 6 young women - we just got together for our 10 year high school reunion, one friend is busy planning her wedding and one announced that she is pregnant (the first of the bunch!). Thank you for reminding me how lucky I am to have a close group of girlfriends, and for giving me perspective on the importance of maintaining those relationships in years to come!

I just finished reading this book and I feel compelled to share my story. I was given your book as a gift from one of my best friends from high school, Marla. We have a group of friends, similar to the Ames girls, that we are still closely in touch with. We are all attending our 30 year class reunion this fall and we all turn 48 years old this year. We have all been friends since high school and three of us have been together since kindergarten.

We grew up in a small town in southwestern Illinois called Wood River. It is about 1/2 hour from St. Louis but is very rural and small. The similarities to Ames and our childhood/adolescent years are amazing. We have all lived all over the country. I lived in the San Francisco area for a few years. My friend Patti (nicknamed Harm for her maiden name of Harmon) lived in Seattle for many years. Joli and Sheila both lived in the Carolinas for a few years. The other Patty (nicknamed Drain for her maiden name Drainer) currently lives in Springfield, IL. Marla and Susie remained in the St. Louis area for all those years and the rest of us have all migrated back over the past 10 years. We see each other regularly for holidays, birthdays, our children's graduations, and our parents' funerals.

We all take an annual trip together. For most of the years, it has been renting a condo or houseboat at a lake 3 hours away from St. Louis. For that long weekend, we revert back to our high school and college days. We all laugh until we hurt and cry while comforting each other. We have gone a year without seeing each other but immediately on our arrival again together, time stands still again. No time was lost, we are completely comfortable, at ease, and ourselves again. I feel we are at our best when we are with each other.

When reading your book I saw so much of my friends in you. I feel I am alot like Cathy and Angela but with alot less of a glamorous job. My friend Marla reminds me of Kelly. Drain is Diana. Sheila is your Sheila--fun-loving, carefree, and hilarious. Harm is Karla wih the same loving, perfect family. Joli is most like Jenny or Jane--very considerate of everyone. Susie reminds me somewhat of Sally. Thankfully we have had no deaths in our group (like your Sheila) and no children's deaths (like your beautiful Christie).

We have often times thought about writing our story. Thanks so much for sharing yours with us. We have all read yours now and may be encouraged to share ours. Who knows what the future holds? Please continue to update us on your lives via your website. Take care and god bless you all!

Lisa Finn

I just finished the book and it was amazing - made me cherish my old friends even more and miss those relationships I have let go of. I recently returned to my hometown with my family after being away for 23 years. I hope this allows me reconnect with some dear friends I have lost contact with. I will recommend this book to all my girlfriends. I loved it!

I'm reading your book right now and have found so many similarities in it with my own group of girlfriends. We too grew up in a small town and have been friends since we were children. We also lost one of our friends, eerily at age 22 as well. And now that we're approaching 30 and starting families, getting married etc. it's harder to see eachother. We've been getting together annually at a friend's hunt camp for the past 3 or 4 years, and we see it as a weekend to connect and catch up, much like the "Ames Girls". Also, during our weekend we have a 'self esteem' circle where we each say something we love about the others. In total there are 8 of us that go each year.

Just wanted to say how much I appreciated the book and it brought insight into my own friendships and in fact brought me closer to them.
Thank you.

Just finished the book. Great reading. I am part of a group of ten women who have been friends since school. We are all turning 50 this year and I bought a copy of the book to give to each one of them. What a great journey it was. The parallels were amazing and I now appreciate their presence in my life even more. Thank you for a great story!

Just finished reading the Girls from Ames and it was truly a pleasure to read from beginning to end. The experiences these women shared are remarkable, it must truly be awesome to have this kind of friendship and for it to withstand forty years.
Sincerely,
Jennifer

I loved the book and have told my friends. I have to confess we would love to tell our stories through a book some day too. We are graduates from Shawnee Mission North High School, class of 1975. We became a close knit group known in Drill Team as The Big 10. Since high school we have had families and various careers: Nurse Practitioner, CPA, Financial Advisor, Insurance Agent, Mortgage Broker, Elementary Teacher, City Judge and Attorney, etc. We also have a cancer survivor in our group and one who lost their brother to AIDS. We all have stayed in town for most of the years, suburb of Kansas City. We have traveled together since 1990 and have gone all over the USA on various spa trips, ocean fronts, big cities, and Branson!! We went to New York when we were 40 and had a fifteen year celebration in Florida with 7 of us, sometimes 8 have made the trips, sometimes 5. We look forward to many more years of life!! Thank you for sharing your story with all of us girls!

Peggy Bales, Olathe Kansas—elementary teacher in Shawnee Mission, Kansas Peggy Barkus, maiden name