September 14, 2008

Dear Friend.......




Old Trucks and Old Guys Rule, 2008.



Himself: G’s still wiping the sweat off his brow with his job. He put up with me yesterday, and Grumpy’s detailing is mucho improved. G did the hard stuff. Now the truck needs his engine compartment steam cleaned of 14 years of dirt.

Herself: Had a Grumpy kind of day, and now has some pretty good looking transportation that runs. Washed, waxed, detailed, new floor mats, new alarm scheduled for Tuesday. Progress.

Oooooooo: Hauled suitcases out, planned packing list, emailed friends. And more friends. Leave Friday. Paper stopped; mail stopped.

Food: Today is out to lunch with Carrie and a dinner of leftovers. We can do this.
Good morning dear you who I have missed..........

Perhaps one maintains a friendship doggedly as well as with persistence. Persistence implies a certain dignity, and doggedness seems to imply a mindlessness. Perhaps one has to look at the specialness, the uniqueness in a friendship, discover the hole, miss the contents intensely to find the desire to maintain an absent friendship.

Someone I knew intimately for almost forty years both in drinking and in sobriety fired me this year. Her decision to do this made me look at all my existing friendships with a fresh eye. I found each person in my life is there because they are wonderful, passionate, caring individuals. Some like you are remarkably creative. Others like my old friend Dee teach and do it with a passion. This passion, at anything, is what draws me to special people like you. It's what makes me doggedly hang on to the friendship even when one half inexplicably vanishes.

Yes, I missed your presence. I had hoped for the best, but as the silence grew longer, I began thinking the worst. Forgive me for saying this, but I am so glad it was your thyroid rather than any of the alternatives I could think of. Now that I know what's happening, I wish I could come up there and stir your doctor's to a more immediate action. Fix this now, I could say. Stop dawdling. Get off your buns and into action. I'm sure you can see me in their offices waving my arms and stirring up the dust bunnies in your behalf. I know that your husband is helping in all our stead’s.

My only positive thinking comes from personal experience. My friend the clown had her thyroid removed when she was 19. My mother had her thyroid treated the way they are talking about yours. Both of them got on with their lives with great panache after the doctor's were done. I know you will too. I can hardly wait until you can.

I too retired. My right hip had been painful for a couple of years, but finally a 22 inning game was the end of me. Agony was a next step in life I had not anticipated. On to the doctors, tests, images, et al, and the news that my hip not only has arthritis, but it filled with a bone spur, liquid, and cysts. What a busy hip. I retired, gave myself a little year round income, and came home to do everything the doc's said plus play on the computer. My HP has such a strange sense of humor. One finger quit.

The first few weeks of the new regime were more than tiring. I would come home from water aerobics twice a week and fall asleep at my computer. I went back to my writing workshop, and dozed off in class. I attended my poetry lunch, and almost fell asleep face first into my enchilada. Slowly I've been gaining strength and the pain has been vanishing.

I did attempt to walk this week…when my truck wouldn't start. That was a failure. I devolved into a donut. Or two. LOL Reality is Weight Watchers.......George is doing well, I emerge with only a loss of eight pounds. Then again, there was a birthday cake, a meal or three out, and endless cookies at meetings, for we have added meetings back into life also.

Everyday I write. I've written two good articles which I will send your way when you get your energy back, and one short story that I submitted to a slightly seedy magazine. Oh you would laugh at me. Only after I had written the finished piece did I discover that the magazine had a particular target market, and it wasn't mine.

There............I shan't give up on a special friend like you. Perhaps you can have your other half send one word updates. :)
Perhaps I will send you one word updates. :)
Perhaps we can meet in the middle.

Off to lunch with an old friend, which you can do soon with all your renewed energy, and back to begin planning for a one week road trip.

Hugs.............so glad to see you in my inbox.............with love..........Georgette

2 comments:

  1. what a dear post. your close friends are lucky to have you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Like the letter very much. I can hear the warmth of your sentiments, the relief in reconnecting to your friend, and the sort summary of the last year... She or he must be very special to you.

    ReplyDelete

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