The Sweet Magnolias is the title of a book series that was adapted into a TV Show broadcasted by Netflix. The Sweet Magnolias consists of three women who have been best friends since childhood: Maddie Townsend, Dana Sue Sullivan, and Helen Decatur. These women are best friends at heart, secret keepers in the dark, and entrepreneurs in the light. Each of them has a distinct personality that makes them a sweet and sour magnolia of the group. Viewers can watch them face the complexities of family drama, romantic and platonic relationships, and career troubles as they open the town's first spa together. Overall, the events they experience together, encourage them to be stronger and recognize that family members are one of the most important aspects of life whether they are through blood or not.

1) Maddie Townsend

       Maddie is a recently divorced mother of three children: Ty, Kyle, and Katie. She is the ex-wife of Bill Townsend and the love interest of Ty's baseball coach. She is trying to move on from her ex-husband but is caught in a web of drama, family problems, and trying to stay sane post-divorce. Because of these difficult circumstances, she believes that she is the person in the group struggling the most.

"I'm holding it together by duct tape and happy thoughts, and I'm near out of both." - Maddie Townsend

    This quote represents how she is still going through so much with the divorce and her kids who are not coping with missing a parent, but she is still trying to be positive for everyone, including her best friends, Dana Sue and Helen. In season one, Maddie has several mental breakdowns and angry outbursts at her children and her ex-husband's new partner, Noreen. We witness her not being okay even though she wants to be okay with her family and friends. She is trying so hard to be the supportive and caring mother she was before, but she cannot do this without the help and advice from her friends and family.

2) Helen Decatur

     Maddie's confidant and best friend, Helen Decatur, is there to console and comfort her when she does not want to deal with family drama at home. Helen is an accomplished attorney who is also one of the future business owners of Serenity's first spa. Throughout the show, she tries to be the most supportive and positive member of the group even though she has a lot going on in her love life. She wants to be a mother, a business owner, and a successful attorney. However, as an attorney, she quickly realizes that she cannot have everything she wants in life.

"Sometimes if we treat people as if they're good, it challenges them to be good."

- Helen Decatur

      From one perspective, it seems like Helen is talking about her clients that are often times in trouble or struggling with family-related cases. As an attorney, she is forced to deal with divorces, deaths, and other tragic cases that people experience. But from another perspective, it seems like she is talking about her two best friends and found family members. Throughout season one, she witnesses Maddie and Dana Sue go through traumatic and difficult experiences like breakups, missing children, medical scares, and arguments with the town citizens. Helen tries her best to be the second mother and listener even though she does not have her own children, although, this leads to a lot of secret-keeping and information that Maddie and Dana Sue do not know about. Secret-keeping is not a good thing in the town of Serenity because of how small it is. Everyone knows something about someone's business, even Helen, Maddie, and Dana Sue.

3) Dana Sue Sullivan

     The last, but not least, Sweet Magnolia is Miss Dana Sue Sullivan. She is a sassy chef and the owner of Sullivan's which is the town's favorite restaurant. But above her career status, Dana Sue is a mother and a wife. She has a teenage daughter named Annie who is a little younger than Ty Townsend. Annie is the spitting image of her mother, only younger. Annie understands how important her mother's best friends are to her and oftentimes helps out with their 'pour it out nights'. These special nights are cocktail nights where the three best friends get together without their kids and discuss drama going on at home and at work, current events, and their relationship status.

"Well, we all want things we can't have." - Dana Sue Sullivan

     Dana Sue says this in episode one when she is talking to her co-workers at her restaurant. When she says this, she has an attitude and is acting like a boss lady. Although, she is already the boss and owner of her restaurant. She seems to be talking about Maddie and Helen in this quote. It's like she's foreshadowing everyone's future in the rest of the show. Her best friends are going through it, and she is the woman in the group who realizes that everything in life cannot be happy, rainbows, and perfect relationships. Dana Sue is the one who keeps a realistic perspective among the Sweet Magnolias, even though she does not have the best moods when she talks about other people's lives.

    Together, Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue have an unforgettable bond that you cannot miss seeing in the show. Their personalities complement each other. And at times we see them have arguments, crying sessions, and weekly meet-ups. They show us that it's okay not to be okay. Sometimes we need our best friends to lean on and have a good cry with, especially when we're trying to hold ourselves together but, instead, we break down and fall.

Fun Facts:

- Heather Hadley who plays Helen Decatur won a Grammy for best R&B album in 2009.

- JoAnna Garcia Swisher who plays Maddie Townsend speaks fluently in Spanish.

- Brooke Elliott who plays Dana Sue has performed in Drop Dead Diva and Beauty and the Beast.

Questions:

- What is one way that you let your friends and family know that you hear them/listen to them during hard times?

- Are you still in touch with your childhood friends?