ZOOM

October 6, 2020

I was blessed to have a beautiful birthday weekend with beautiful people and it seems to still go on.  I have gotten lovely messages on Facebook and emails and texts along with birthday cards.  I didn't realize how empty my life was without friends, until last week my high school besties and I had a ZOOM meeting.  Kathy, Pam and Danna.  These are people that seem to have stuck by me no matter how much of a goof I have been. We lost touch with Kathy and I finally found her.  I met these women in junior high in band and they are still as kind as I remember.  One of the things that's apparent with these three women is that they are all in the business of service.  All I wanted growing up was to be an actor.  Danna is an R.N., Pam was a social worker and now a retired teacher and Kathy was a social worker and now a teacher. Had I been paying more attention, I would have seen how giving these women have been to others.  We talked a great deal about my friend Kathy's parents who both had Alzheimer's or dementia before they passed.  I kept thinking of her parents and the kindness they showed me.  I couldn't imagine them getting old.  All three seemed to have such a stable upbringing.  After talking with them, I felt happier and that I was home, if that makes any sense.  Basically, when things were tough in school or wherever, I knew I could count on them and they had my back, so to speak.  And I still feel like they do.  I have written about my friend Danna who was an R.N. at the hospital I was taken to after I broke my back.  But Kathy came two times from Cleveland to Columbus to see me and might have even taken off work to do so.  Then she sent me a card every day and I was in the hospital for 10 weeks.  Pam came with Kathy once and since it was fall, they brought a pumpkin and decorated it for me.  I got out the day before Danna's wedding and was able to enjoy the festivities. I moved back in with my parents and Kathy and Pam made sure I got out and socialized.  We are sort of scattered around the country now, but I still feel honored to know these women and that we are still friends.  I can't explain the feeling, but again, it felt like I was HOME.