Who have been my best friends throughout the years?

My first best friend was Emma.  We met in Kindergarten and were very best friends until Junior High.  Emma was a beautiful little girl.  Blonde with Shirley Temple curls.  She was an only child and her momma spoiled her to death.  She was very sweet though.  We had a lot of fabulous times together.  I especially loved going roller skating and to the library with her.  Her mom always took us.

In my freshman year at high school a new girl came to Carlisle.  Her name was Barb and we became fast friends.  She loved to dance as much as I did, and we went to all the dances.  She embarrassed me the worst in my life.  As I was singing a solo in choir, she snuck behind me and pulled my half slip to my ankles.  I could have died.  She moved away the next year.

Jeanie became my next best friend throughout high school.  She was a red head and very popular.  We witnessed a UFO together one evening when we were driving home from a football game.  She was my matron of honor and I was her maid of honor.

When I got to college, I met Pat in my speech class.  We were supposed to pick a partner and we looked at each other and just laughed.  We had so many adventures, it was unbelievable.  Still to this day when we meet, it is like we were never apart.

Dave, Dave and Fuzzer were our best friends for many years.  Dave and Fuzzer (brothers) even lived with us for a while.  Dave and Dave and Ferb and I played cards almost every weekend.  I swore that Dave L and Ferb cheated but they swore they never did.

When we moved to Illinois, I became friends with Ellie.  The hubsters got along as well.  I just wish the children had gotten along better but they grew up to act like brother and sisters.  Ellie and I walked a lot together.  A group of us would get together and boat out on the lake.  We’d tie up the boats and the kids would jump and play in the water as we adults had refreshing beverages and snacks.  Ellie and her hubster were travel agents and they talked us into a Jamaican vacation for our anniversary.  We took the kids and had one of many happy Jamaican vacations.  We also got together for Summerfest and put together a lunch stand called, Da Grille.  We made Italian beef and Italian sausage sandwiches.  We made enough money to take all the workers to Florida for a three-day weekend.  One of the saddest days of my life was the day I bid Ellie farewell as they moved to Arizona.

Nancy, across the street, became a best friend.  We had many walks when we would “solve the many problems of the world.”  We eventually became the “Women who bake and drink, and the men who love them.”  And on occasion we were, “Women who can and drink, etc…”

Naomi and I were friends for many years.  She played guitar and sang, and I sang harmony.  We had many walks also.  I adopted her dog, Dot, and if Naomi wasn’t available to walk, I walked Dot.  We were in Front Porch Jam together and it was a long strange trip but one I will never forget.  I still enjoy going to see her live band, Decades.

My friend, Lauri, asked me if I’d be interested in helping her paint.  She painted and wallpapered for folks in the area.  I joined in and we had so much fun working together.  We once painted a tavern and I remember standing on the bar to get the ceiling.  Lauri and I enjoy trips to the Goodwill store in Delavan (if you haven’t been, you need to go), outlet stores around Madison, and lunch at Daddy Maxwell’s in Williams Bay, WI.  Go on Friday and have the fish tacos.  Lauri and I plan to take a trip to Texas someday.  That is where she originated, and she wants me to see it.

Suzy was my housekeeper for a couple of years.  She cleaned my house like I cleaned my house.  She became a reflexologist and wrote a textbook on the subject.  Suzy and I did several girl trips.  We went to Chicago once when she was speaking at a book store.  I was kind of her secretary.  We also took a long journey to Washington Island in northern Wisconsin.  We laughed so hard we hurt.  I was sad to see her retire to Arizona but was happy for her to retire.

My neighbor, Garnett, was my friend off and on for several years.  She was kind of a hermit and a homebody.  She never wanted to do anything but sit at home and watch soap operas and drink beer.  She was diagnosed with cancer five years ago and I was determined to get her up and moving.  I just wanted to spend time with her and make her do things she had never thought of doing.  I got her to eat Chinese, Indian, Thai, Greek and Italian.  She was part Mexican and only ate Mexican food all her life.  After radiation and chemo the first time, she lost her sense of taste and couldn’t eat meat which she had been a big meat eater all her life.

She and I went on garden tours, went kayaking, went on a tour of the Rock River as well as our culinary adventures.  We also tried out for Rock Valley College movie department and acted in three short movies together.  We went to see live bands perform and even got in a few dances.

The hubster, me and Charyl (Garnett’s best friend for life) took Garnett to Colorado as she had never seen the mountains before.  When we left, she called them “her mountains”.

Garnett passed last year, and I am just so empty.  Since then I have been attacked by this stupid pinched nerve in my neck.  And now my best friend is Pain.

Photo is Suzy, Nancy, me and Lauri.

Peace be with us all.