What Would We Do Without Our Friends??

What in the world would we do without friends?  My friends have carried me through the rough times in my life, been with me to celebrate the good, and always overlooks those silly, stupid mistakes you make a long the way.  The couple pictured above are just those kinda friends.  Rich and Joyce now live in Arizona, (they are the ones I always visit when I decide it's time to escape from our long winters) but I met the two of them while they lived in the Chicago area.

Rich and I have a long history together.  Shortly after I entered the corporate world and got a "real" job with a decent salary, paid holidays and vacations, benefits and a 401K that I am most grateful for today and every day, Rich was my boss.  I was his secretary, and those were the days when you typed a letter it was on a real typewriter, long before the days of word processing machines and computers with word processing programs, and if a mistake was made, out came the "white-out", some of you probably don't even know what that is.  And if he asked for something to be typed in triplicate...oh help me.  Anyway, Rich and I developed a great working relationship and after a year or so, he introduced me to his wife, Joyce.  Rich already knew my sweetie thru business, and eventually the four of us began to see each other socially.  By this time Rich had "promoted" me into management and I no longer worked "for" him, so there was no conflict of interest, so to speak.

We spent a lot of time with Rich and Joyce, movies, out to eat, golf, trips together even to faraway places like Hawaii and England, and when they decided to move to Phoenix after Rich & my sweetie took offers from AT&T to retire early, I was devastated.  Our friends that we spent most weekends together were leaving.  In 1990 they left their home here and moved to Sun Lakes, AZ into a lovely home on the golf course. I still miss them alot, and alot has changed over the years, but we have remained constant, steady friends. They were here over the weekend with their primary visit being to another good friend of Rich's that is suffering from pancreatic cancer (a really evil cancer).  They spent time with him at his home, went with him while receiving chemo because deep down they know this may be their last time seeing this old friend.  But between visits I was able to spend time with them as well, 3 different times in fact, Thursday evening, Friday morning and again last night.  They left this morning to return to sunny, warm Arizona and I won't see them again until January or February when I escape to enjoy their warmth.  Seeing them again, spending time with them, being their friend is what I am most grateful for today.  What would we do without our friends?  

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing...not healing, not curing....that is a friend who cares." ~  Henri Nouwen

Until next time....