The friendliest email you'll read all week

For the U.N.'s International Day of Friendship, a roundup of our favorite NPR stories [NPR] Today is the U.N.'s International Day of Friendship, and to celebrate, we’re rounding up some of our favorite NPR stories on kinship and camaraderie. We hope it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling today! Finding a long-lost friend [Sharony Green stands outside Biscayne Gardens Elementary School in Miami, Fla., where she met her close childhood friend, Beth Hegab.]( Courtesy of Sharony Green In the 1970s, two little girls met at an elementary school in Miami and became close friends. One was black, and one was white. Sharony Green is now an assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama, and she said her friend Beth helped her during a tough time. But over time, the two girls grew apart. They found other friends and began to spend less and less time together. And race might have played a part in that, Green says. But Green never forgot her childhood friend. NPR looked for Green's friend via social media and found that the two women weren't very far from one another at all. [Read how we helped them reconnect.]( 2 goat pals stuck on a bridge [These goats got stuck on a bridge in western Pennsylvania. The white goat is facing in the wrong direction to walk off the beam, about 100 feet high, and return to solid ground.]( Todd Tilson/PA Turnpike Commission In April, two goats climbed on a beam under a Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge in rural western Pennsylvania and got stuck. No one knows why they did it. They’re not talking. But goats do love to climb and explore, notes goat specialist Susan Schoenian of the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. So these two goats, who are probably pals (because goats are social animals), escaped from the nearby yard where they lived and went on an adventure. [Read about their dramatic rescue.]( 'I am calling randomly to say hi' [A public telephone booth in Asmara, Eritrea. Ethiopians and Eritreans are calling each other this week as phone lines that had been dormant for decades came to life.]( Thomas Mukoya/Reuters For two decades, Eritrea and Ethiopia were bitterly divided by the cold war that followed one of the deadliest conflicts on the African continent. That came to an end in July, when the countries’ two rulers promised a new spirit of cooperation. They said citizens of each other’s countries could travel freely. And phone lines that had been dormant for decades came to life. That’s when Frehiwot Negash made a random phone call. She Googled Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and came up with the number for the Crystal Hotel. "When I called," she said, "the receptionist answered, and I said, 'I am calling from Ethiopia to say congratulations.' And I told her, 'I am very happy.'" The receptionist told her she was happy, too. Negash told her that someday she would fly to Asmara. And the receptionist replied, "We will welcome you." [Read the full story.]( A virtual friendship turned IRL Last summer, a 22-year-old rapper from Harlem named Spencer was playing Words With Friends, the online game. The game matched him with Roz, an 81-year-old retiree in West Palm Beach, Fla. The two played more than 300 games together and struck up a close friendship. In December, Spencer flew down to Florida to meet Roz in person. Photos of the two hugging went viral -- because even the Internet knows a real thing when it sees it. [Listen to the story.]( 'Hi old person. Today's my birfday' [Norah Wood and her mom Tara visit Dan just about every week now.]( Courtesy of Tara Wood After his wife died, Dan Peterson didn't know what to do with himself. He spent a lot of time in his garden remembering his wife's favorite flower, white roses. One day on a dreaded grocery run, Dan felt particularly depressed. "And all of the sudden I come to the end of the hall, er aisle, and here's this little girl, and she's sort of bouncing up and down and pointing at me," Dan says. "And she said, 'Hi old person. Today's my birfday.'" Norah seemed to know Dan needed some extra cheer; she ended up brightening his whole life. [Read about their unexpected friendship.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This email was written by Malaka Gharib, deputy editor of NPR’s Goats and Soda. Make her day by tweeting her your best stories about friendship at [@MalakaGharib](. You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. | [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002 [NPR]