Friends! I need more close friends! I know this sounds silly to some, desperate to others and familiar to more! But, the truth is having a career, a child, a dog, a husband, a house with a lawn and the Joni’s living all around us, aging parents, extended family sometimes in need and the occasional unexpected life hiccup, WHERE does one fit in time for friends. Ok, a step further, if your career requires a great deal of travel or you are a telecommuter living long hours chained to your desk alone in your home office, on conference call after conference call all day long, where do you get your human touch fix? Starbucks? Is there not more to life? And then let’s progress one more step, you’re climbing the corporate ladder of success… and a quote I’ve heard way too many times and worse, started to believe, “It gets lonely at the top.” Hmmm, Warren Buffett looks anything but lonely to me! Are we self imposing this view?

I am always in awe of women who have had long standing lifelong friendships. I do have, what I call, my 911 friends. We’ve been friends for years and if any of us is need of the emotional fire department, we each come running to the others aid dropping everything without a second thought. Any other communications has been reduced to airport catch up calls. When in flight to or from our destinations we call each other (when there is no available Wi-Fi and our clients and colleagues have closed for the day if there is such a thing). Our visits are sometimes less than once monthly because of our schedules and life activities. What I long for is time; time with friends doing friend things, eating out, taking ski trips together and being more active with more friends, true friends…. Over the Edge friends! Rose is an Over the Edge friend; she is Over the Edge for promoting friendships among women and for sisterhood and she leverages her passion for writing to show the powerful emotional effects on people (friends) of words on pages.

That brings us our Over the Edge story of the month, Rose Firestone & her friend, Dorien Lancia! Rose and Dorien have been friends for better than 20 years. This friendship kicked into high gear when the life of one appeared to be threatened by the torrent onset of breast cancer. Now read on MY FRIENDS!

The Over the Edge Story of the Month: Rose Firestone, author of, “keeping abreast!”

Friends for Life

When I first sat with Rose before she introduced herself to me she introduced her friendship. I found it fascinating she would place the relationship introduction to Dorien Lancia first and wondered if this loyalty to friends in our culture today is as prevalent as in past. Has the onslaught of social networks hindered or helped our ability for connection? Rose rarely uses her computer! However, she has written her first book in both support of and in honor of Dorien, now a breast cancer survivor. She’s been writing poetry most of her life. All of her writings are completed the old fashion way, by pen to paper.

“There is so much power in the written word,” Rose says and continues the thought, “the power of the written word....how it can evoke such emotion, create amazing image, how it can either build or destroy, show love or hate, all by just sitting there, still, upon a single page of paper. .....That power, is the edge and over for me.” So when Rose got the 911 call from her best friend sharing the news of her resent discovery, Dorien had become a static for Breast Cancer, Rose broke down emotionally, feared for the potential loss of her best friend, confided her fears to her family (who considered Dorien a family member) and then regrouped her own strength to come running to the aid of her best friend, Dorien!

“the healer” starts out, “he sits on a rounded stool, I sit on a long papered table, he wears a shirt and tie, black slacks and Nikes, I wear a paper draped towel open front, to my waste, he looks, he asks, he feels, I look away, I ask I feel….” When I flipped through Rose’s book, this is the first poem I stopped on. The words left me feeling somewhat drained, fearful with a large full lump in both my throat and my chest my face flashing red heat, the thought hit me that there’s not a women on earth who can’t feel these words, their meaning, the implications of this significant doctor’s visit! I feel both Rose’s words and her friendship are so Over the Edge meaningful! I long for more authentic, life long, stand-by-me friends and am on a path of my own to search for them. What I know is have a lot to give to a friend!

As for Dorien, she is on her own path to recovering, is cancer free as I write this and is Over the Edge grateful for friendships like the one with Rose!

If you would like a copy of Rose Firestone’s book, “keeping abreast,” email Rose at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . More great writing is on the way as well from Rose. More impactful than her writing is the quest to bring stronger focus to sisterhood through her writing, Over the Edge to change the world by inspiring the strong unbreakable connection of women coming together as friends, as sisters!

Our five part self assessment Edge Meter Survey concluded last month. But come back in April, we have another fun self assessment coming your way! Also, take a moment to enjoy one of Rose’s poems we’ve published for you below. And as always let me hear from you! Anything you’d love to share concerning any of the Over the Edge past stories or ideas on future stories is welcome, email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it subject: Over the Edge. You may visit my blog at www.cladventures.com.