A friend is the only person in the world who understands exactly what you’re saying even though you may not be talking. ~ Anonymous
I have written before about my gaggle of girlfriends. We have a tradition of gathering at one of our homes two (or more) times a year and sharing space and joys and woes. We’ve been through hard times together, but what stands out is how much we are able to laugh together.
We are fortunate that one of us has a home at Carolina Beach, NC, and that’s where we were for the long Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend. I prefer the beach in the off season. I generally don’t head for the shore when it’s hot and sticky and there are nine million people elbowing and shouting and hoping to get in whatever space I’m trying to occupy. That’s not my idea of fun. Sorry for the digression. Back to friends.
Sometimes we play games. Sometimes we watch movies, or an ACC basketball game. We might eat out all weekend, or we might eat in the entire time. There are no rules. Well, there is the unwritten rule that we are a support system for whichever one(s) may need a sympathetic ear and/or a shoulder.
One of our group has suffered a great deal of loss in the past couple of years. She lost her mother and her father in a very short span of time. Unfortunately, she is also dealing with a number of other personal losses. Still she’s our comedian. And through all her hard times she is able to make us laugh…and cry. I think that’s a small miracle.
I can’t talk about this group without telling you a little about S. She, too, makes us laugh. When she and her husband were building their house, she wanted to know why she couldn’t omit the kitchen as she had no plans to cook. And the miracle is that she baked cheese biscuits for our breakfast the last morning we were there. Who knew she could cook!?
Often we give in to silliness such as these little flamingo-pink rubber duckies. We have long had a pink flamingo thing going on, and this trip L brought each of us a small flock of ducks in that tacky color. We had to provide a pond so they could swim. Some of them wouldn’t sit straight in the water. They looked like they were diving for something. One of our group, of course, said those were the ones that had too much to drink. (I say like some of us.) And we giggled some more.
In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~ Albert Schweitzer
Back On My Own 