True Friends

Like most of America we settled down yesterday to watch the Superbowl action with friends.  Also like most of America we did as much talking and catching up as we did watching football.  The evening flowed with memories of past Superbowl parties and from there flowed to kids and grandkids.  Our friendship goes back for forty years, when we both moved to Springfield as young marrieds.  It's a rare friendship when both husbands and wives become best friends.  It's made for lots of memories.

On the surface we women aren't a lot alike.  She's a size four--I am not.  She has beautiful natural white hair--only my hairdresser knows for sure what color mine is. She entertains grandly with elegance and grace--I'm best at impromptu dinners for hungry hands.  She has boundless energy for organizing the world.  I decided, when I quit the Extension Service and no one was paying me to organize the world, that the world would probably organize itself.  She is creative, artsy, and talented.  I am an appreciative audience for her efforts.  But she is a true friend.

Only a friend would take you hat shopping when you start chemo.  Retail therapy at its best.

After forty years we have to stay friends. We know too much about each other to risk not being friends.  We know each other's darkest secrets and shared each others highest happiness.

When she was pregnant with her fifth child (she has six) we had gone out to eat with our husbands when, as women do, we decided to make a trip to the restroom.  We entered the stalls side-by-side.  I heard a hesitant voice, "I have something I've been meaning to tell you, but I wasn't sure how."  "Well, spit it out.  You know you can tell me anything and I won't repeat it." I responded.  Again the hesitant voice, "I was afraid you would be upset or mad."  Now I was really curious.  "What on earth could you have done that I would be mad about?' I queried.  "Well, you see, I'm pregnant again and I know how you feel about that." came the hurried answer.  "Get out of that stall right now!!!!", I shouted.  As soon as I could I grabbed her and hugged her to me.  "I don't care if you are pregnant, just as long as it's not me!!  You can have a dozen if you want to and if it makes you happy!" (When she got pregnant with her sixth, I wasn't sure she hadn't taken me at my word.)

She makes me laugh.  She lets me cry.  She is a zany balance to my introspection. 

Thanks, friend.