Friendship

Gave a talk in our new ward a couple of years ago when we first moved in. A talk I didn’t want to give – too personal, too much information people in the ward didn’t need to know – but felt I needed to give it anyway. After church a woman with flaming red hair stopped me in the hall and said “I am going to make you my new best friend”. I was a little stunned and since I blurt out everything that comes to mind without censoring it – I said “Good luck with that, I have not had a friend since high school”. She looked at me with a bit of skepticism. I said “I don’t think I even know how to be a friend anymore”. And that was the day I met Bonne. We started going out to lunch every week after that and discovered that we both liked to speak our mind and had much in common.

Soon, we strong armed Linda into going to lunch with us and we were a merry band of three.

I truly somewhere along the way had forgotten what it was like to have friends. I was used to being home with a handicapped daughter and in the beginning – spending much of that time in hospitals, doctor’s offices and at physical, speech and occupational therapies. There was truly no time for friends and then, I just lost the ability to make them.

Had it not been for a strong willed beautiful red head forcing me out of my house, I would still not know what it was like to have the support of others. We went on a cruise in February, with Linda praying things would go well for us. So – of course things were perfect. We leave on Sunday for another cruise and I am looking forward to it. Bonne is now in another ward and we don’t make it to lunch every week, but she still makes her ‘fly-by’ calls when she is in the car and we keep up with one another. Linda reads my blog almost daily (such a brave thing) just to get a feel for how I am doing before she calls to say hello and is there anything she can do for me.

Linda and Bonne – I have laughed and cried with each so much. They have taught me what a true friend is, and although I am not there yet, I am working on it.

How did I ever live without them?