For the last couple of days, some thoughts have been bouncing around inside my head. I’d like to share them with you because everyone I have met at DC has helped me in a way I couldn’t have imagined and I’m sure you wouldn’t either. Let me explain.
Last November two of my dearest, closest girlfriends died (Helen and Dean). They’d both been ill so their deaths were not unexpected. Just unwelcome. I felt bad for their families not because their mother/aunt/sister had died, but that their deaths happened at the threshold of the holiday season. I missed my friends because I always made it a point to make something special for them for Christmas and had already put the wheels in motion for their gifts when they died. I still have them in a box.
They were the kind of friends I called just about every day. I shared stories of our grandchildren with them, talked about recipes, community gossip, compared the books we were reading and wanted to read, discussed movies, told jokes, cried on each other’s shoulders. The stuff that good friends talk about together. When they died, I felt as though I was near the bottom of a great hole.
Then in March, another dear, dear girlfriend (Danie) died suddenly. One day she was here. The next day she was gone. Boom! Just like that. Massive heart attack. I felt like I’d been hit by a brick. And I felt like I was at the bottom of the big hole. As long as Danie was around I had someone to call on the phone and talk like I did with Helen and Dean. Plus, Danie was one of the funniest people I’d known and was always eager to share a bawdy joke or two. She was a real, as they say here, piece of work. She never met a stranger and everyone loved her. That was evidenced at her funeral when the funeral home was filled to capacity and had more people standing outside.
I’ve spent the last several month having “I’ll call (Helen, Dean, Danie) and tell her about my new recipe for …” moments. No more exchanging of books. No more popping in to each other’s kitchens for some iced tea and conversation. No more sharing plant cuttings. The void was there and, even though Buck is my best friend and we spend 24/7 together, my girlfriend friendship was different and he can’t fill it.
Then SharonT encouraged me to look into DiscussCooking. The site she and I had been members of for several years had turned into something akin to a brothel. Sad, too, because prior to the decline it was a first-class place.
Now, to my point. Thank you, everyone, for bringing me back to the top of the big hole and filling it with your friendship and camaraderie. I’ve only been here a short time but it feels comfortable and loving here. And I have so much fun. I’m stayin’! It feels so good to be here.
Last November two of my dearest, closest girlfriends died (Helen and Dean). They’d both been ill so their deaths were not unexpected. Just unwelcome. I felt bad for their families not because their mother/aunt/sister had died, but that their deaths happened at the threshold of the holiday season. I missed my friends because I always made it a point to make something special for them for Christmas and had already put the wheels in motion for their gifts when they died. I still have them in a box.
They were the kind of friends I called just about every day. I shared stories of our grandchildren with them, talked about recipes, community gossip, compared the books we were reading and wanted to read, discussed movies, told jokes, cried on each other’s shoulders. The stuff that good friends talk about together. When they died, I felt as though I was near the bottom of a great hole.
Then in March, another dear, dear girlfriend (Danie) died suddenly. One day she was here. The next day she was gone. Boom! Just like that. Massive heart attack. I felt like I’d been hit by a brick. And I felt like I was at the bottom of the big hole. As long as Danie was around I had someone to call on the phone and talk like I did with Helen and Dean. Plus, Danie was one of the funniest people I’d known and was always eager to share a bawdy joke or two. She was a real, as they say here, piece of work. She never met a stranger and everyone loved her. That was evidenced at her funeral when the funeral home was filled to capacity and had more people standing outside.
I’ve spent the last several month having “I’ll call (Helen, Dean, Danie) and tell her about my new recipe for …” moments. No more exchanging of books. No more popping in to each other’s kitchens for some iced tea and conversation. No more sharing plant cuttings. The void was there and, even though Buck is my best friend and we spend 24/7 together, my girlfriend friendship was different and he can’t fill it.
Then SharonT encouraged me to look into DiscussCooking. The site she and I had been members of for several years had turned into something akin to a brothel. Sad, too, because prior to the decline it was a first-class place.
Now, to my point. Thank you, everyone, for bringing me back to the top of the big hole and filling it with your friendship and camaraderie. I’ve only been here a short time but it feels comfortable and loving here. And I have so much fun. I’m stayin’! It feels so good to be here.
