Friendship

 

I know I had said, in my last post, that my next one would be about being a grandmother. I decided to wait on that because I found this topic "Friendship" to be at the forefront of my life right.  But, as with grandchildren, friends, true friends, will always be there, in good times as well as bad.

I have been fortunate, my whole life, to be blessed with wonderful friends. I have friends from my childhood, first marriage & second marriage. Friends that I've made during my working life and during retirement. Webster's definition of "friend" is "1 a. One attached to another by affection or esteem; b. acquaintence; 2 a. One that is not hostile; b. one that is of the same nation, party or group; 3 a. a favored companion".

As I look at these definitions I find that the best part of being and having a friend, is missing.



Every friend I've ever had, that I can still call my friend has lived up to "I'm here for you".

There's a story about friendship that I'd like to share with you.

Approximately forty six years ago (during my first marriage), when my daughter was almost 5 months old, we were living in an apartment.  After a short time living there a young couple, our age, moved in and would be expecting there first child shortly thereafter.  We struck up a friendship.  We became so close that one night, around 3am, there was a knock on our adjoining bedroom wall.  What I heard still makes me laugh to this day, "J's water broke.  We're on our way to the hospital".

During the next 16 years we had each moved to different areas of New York.  But, we maintained a great friendship.  During my separation and subsequent divorce and remarriage, all contact was lost. Neither one of us, as we found out later, ever really understood why.

Jumping ahead to 2010, I received a call from my sister that a friend of hers was in a nail salon and struck up a conversation with a woman.  During that conversation, it became evident that this woman was my friend from so many years ago.  Without boring you further with minute details. I got her number and email address.  I emailed her and she very quickly returned in kind.  We spoke, we questioned what happened all those years ago that caused us to lose the wonderful friendship we had, then set a date for that weekend to meet for dinner with our spouses.  The meeting was amazing.  It was greeted with smiles, tears, and hugs.  The best part is that to this day we have brought each other up to date with what has transpired in each of our lives over the 26 years of separation. We see each other as often as possible and the most amazing thing is that we each live in Florida, as snowbirds, about 45 minutes away.

That, ladies and gentleman, is friendship.

Then there are the friends you've had since childhood. I have one of those.  No matter where we have lived, and we have lived very far apart, we have maintained more than a friendship, we have been as close as sisters.  There have been times that due to where our lives have taken us, we would talk on the phone (yes, phone. There were no emails "back then"), sometimes once a month, sometimes once a year.  But I always knew, as I hope she always knew, if we needed each other we'd be there in a flash.

I have been so lucky to be able to say that I have "old" friends, "new" friends and friends yet to come into my life.  The one friend I have not talked about yet is my oldest friend.  One I've had my entire life.  While we don't always see eye to eye and have very different lifestyles and ideas, this friend is someone I can call (and have done so) at any time, ask the most ridiculous questions (have done that too), laugh with, cry with and always know she'd drop everything to be there for me, my sister.

 

 

To all my wonderful friends, Thank You, for always being there.

Until next time......

 

 



A Postive Look Back

As I sit here at my computer watching the snow melt off my roof I think about what brought me to this time in my life, and smile.

A number of years ago I bought a "journal" book entitled, "A Mother's Legacy.....Your Life Story in Your Own words".  The sub-title is "A Loving Gift for your children".  Over the years I've added a little here and there.  But now, with time on my hands and needing to reflect back on what I have, what I've lost and most of all, what I've gained over these 67 years I spent a good portion of today writing in this journal.

The book is set up with questions.  Each question is a reflection of how you got to this point in your life.  For example.."what was the silliest thing you ever did? Or, "When did you have your first date?  To, "What is one of the most difficult choices you ever had to make, or the hardest thing you ever had to do?"  These are not so easy to answer when you sit down and think about it.  I wanted to be honest and open with my children and, in the end, with myself.  Since this journal is for my children, I won't share alot of my postings here.  What I will share is what amazing things have happened to me as well as who helped me to be the person I am today.

For me, my life truly began when I had my children.  There are lots of things you can say about motherhood.  Some, not so positive (just kidding kids).  Some things awe inspiring and some just down right beautiful.  I think about how stressful life was when one of my kids cried and I didn't know why or how to stop it.  Then I think back to that first smile or when they first called me "Mommy".  How proud can one person be when you go to "open school night" and hear what a "pleasure it is to have your daughter/son in my class".  The graduations from nursery school through college.  I know I've left off all the sleepless night waiting for them to come home from being out with friends or the "teenage years".  I left these off for a reason.  I promised myself this would be a POSITIVE posting.  :)

I will be the first to admit I didn't do everything right.  As much as we think we know it all when it comes to being a parent, if we're honest with ourselves, we're far from perfect.  For those of you in my age bracket, just ask your kids.  I hope they'll say, "you didn't do so bad".

My life took many twists and turns, some good, some not-so-good.  One of the best twists my life took was meeting my best friend, my life partner, my lover, my husband, Larry.  He has been my rock.  We've gone through, and continue to go through some ups and downs.  Fortunately the ups far outway the downs.

I've specifically left off grandmother-hood.  That I'm saving for my next post.  Just let me leave you with this thought.....Being a grandmother is the best revenge!!   See you next time.

I'm Back!!

 

Here I am again, blogging, about what I hope will continue to be an informative, funny, sometimes telling account of what's been going on in my life since retirement.  For those of you who followed my previous blogs, I'm back.  For some reason the "old" blogs have disappeared into cyber space.  Therefore, my new readers will have to catch up.

Since retirement in 2010 many changes have occurred.  For one, I'm now almost, three years older.  Saying it doesn't make me all that happy.  But thinking of the alternative, I'm thrilled to be almost three years older.  Larry & I purchased a condo in Delray Beach, Fl (which I'm sure all of you know), we bought a new car eight months ago and are now spending our first winter since retirement up north.  Note:  I posted the above picture, not so much for you, but for me.  It allows me the ability to dream about next year. :)
Now, back to reality.

For those of you who don't know, and those who do and are probably sick of hearing it, we are spending this winter in PA because Larry's kidney transplant doctors ALL felt he would be getting his new kidney before the 1st of the year.  One actually said by Thanksgiving.  Well Thanksgiving is over and so is the first of the year.  And so we wait...and wait....and wait.

I tried in my last blog to keep things light.  So far, in my new blog, I don't think I've been that successful.  So, I'll end today's blog with some thoughts.  ENJOY!

See you next time.  Think happy thoughts (I'm talking to myself) :)