And it s awful. I feel very empty. Deb Archer, director of the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, realized the value of friendships in her life after spending a week this summer reconnecting with old friends. It was the best week of my life in the past 10 years, she says. It fed my soul in a way that needed to be fed.
Many women say they actually schedule time to get together with friends.
Some say it is the only way they could be sure social appointments will be kept. And modern technology, in the form of email, cell phones and electronic organizers, is now central to the lives of women vying for more time. If there wasn t email, I d have no girlfriends, says Paula Gilbeck, a media training specialist for Wood Com-munications. There s no time to pick up the phone, no time to write like I used to. Thank God for e-mail, says Jill Kerttula, an account executive at Reed Sendecke.