Real Friends...

I'm having some tender thoughts about friendship today.

This last weekend Claude and I completed our trip to New York state to visit very dear friends from our time living in Maryland. We were to have visited them the weekend of January 7th - 10th. However, Claude got very sick on our way home from Las Vegas and could not travel on the 7th. I got his sickness on Sunday, January 9th and was happy we were home to be sick. I was able to change our flights to Albany, New York to this past weekend and we made the trip then.

The reason for this trip was a very good one. When we lived in Maryland, Claude was the bishop of our ward (congregation) at Church. One of his counselors was Keith Soressi. They became very good friends through this service. Keith's wife, Jan, was my visiting teacher and was also the Relief Society president while Claude was bishop. Keith and I taught seminary together. As a result of these opportunities to serve together our friendship grew.

We retired and moved from Maryland to Kentucky. Not long after Keith to a position in Boulder, Colorado and they moved from Maryland to Colorado. On their drive to Colorado over Thanksgiving time, they stopped and spent a couple of nights with us. It was just great having their family (they had 3 kids and a dog at that time).

Later Claude and I drove through Colorado our our way to Utah. We stopped in Boulder and spent the night with the Soressi's then. Again, it was just like old times in Maryland.

Keith eventually took a position in Albany, New York and their family moved to New York.

We received an eMail from Keith suggesting that we needed a vacation in a place that was really cold and covered with snow. He hinted at a new calling for him and he really wanted Claude's moral support. We guessed that he was hinting at being called as the bishop of their ward in Albany. We were right!! Then we made plans to be there on the weekend he would be sustained as the new bishop of the Albany 1st Ward.

It was a delightful weekend catching up on our families and work and health and movies and trips and on, and on, and on. We attended Church with them on Sunday and truly enjoyed their ward and the people in it. Keith told them two weeks earlier when he was sustained about his friend whose counselor he had been in Maryland and how much he appreciated him and the training he received while serving with Claude. He assured the congregation that if he didn't do something right "It was Claude's fault." All through Church people would come to introduce themselves. When they found out it was Claude, they always said, "Oh, you are the one we can blame!!"

We have had this happen with other friends over the  years where you get to be together after a long time and we pick up right where we left off. It is always so nice to share friendship with these wonderful people.

Today, Claude had business in Georgetown, so I put on my jeans and tagged along. He dropped me off at the nursing home to visit my mom. She was in her bed in her room. She was in a happy mood today and smiled often. I matched her tops and bottoms in her closet and chatted away with her. She held my hand and we talked when I finished. Then I read to her from the Ensign. The CNA's came in to take her for her bath during my visit. They decided to bath someone else so I could visit with her a bit longer. When Kandy came back to get mom for her shower, I asked her how she was doing. She paused in her work day and shared with me the trials of her life. It is amazing how much they are each dealing with and they come and still remain loving and caring with my mom. What treasures these good people are in my life.

Kandy has a cousin that used to work at the nursing home. Her name is Loretta. She cared for my mom when she worked there. I remember her carefully putting knee-high stocking on my mom when they were going to have a special program, just so she would look extra special.

Kandy shared with me that Loretta actually came to the nursing home last week  just to visit my mom. She doesn't work there, her mother has stage 4 cancer all over her body, but she took time to come to the nursing home to visit my mom. Kandy said she and Loretta sat in mom's room for 40 minutes and just talked to her and each other. Kandy said, "I don't know if Mrs. Lawrence understood or not." I told Kandy that I am positive the visits brighten her day even if she doesn't understand who or what is happening a lot anymore.

I left thinking about these two dear ladies who cared for previously and are still caring for and about my mom. They are such dear friends to my mother and consequently to me.

My mom was assigned two of the sisters nearer her age to visit her in the nursing home when she first when in there 4 1/2 years ago. They have long since been assigned other visiting teaching routes. But each of these dear ladies comes as often as they can to visit my mom. They are each older and it isn't easy for them to get around. But they still come to visit mom. They are truly dear friends to my mom and consequently to me.

At the ending of this day, I'm reflecting back on these friends in my life and so many others it is too numerous to mention here. I truly believe a friend is a person that just cares, truly cares about you. And I want to remember these friends that have entered and touched my life in such a positive way. May I be that kind of friend to others as well.