friends

When the word "friends" popped into my mind at 3:30 a.m., I was sure I knew where to go and yet what was to come was very different.

The story was not going to be about the friend of 67 years who inspires me with her love of God. Nor would it be about the soul friend of 40 years who has shown me a way of caring and kindness that has changed who I am .It wouldn't be about the work friend who has become my inspiration for so many endeavors. The one I can tell anything to and count on her to still be my best cheerleader; she gets me. Nor would it be about the gal who moved to Blue Ridge who never forgets my birthday. This writing would go back to childhood and a 30 year ago work friend.The fact that they both live in Florida seems to be the connection.

Her name is Diane and she was one of my first friends. Her mother and mine were best buddies and we tagged along. She was a mild mannered sweet, pretty girl with dark eyes and brown hair and we never had a disagreement that I recall.Although an only child, she shared her toys and her laugh with me.Maybe I was the sister she longed for because years later she named her daughter after me. I glowed knowing that.

I remember her mother, Jean, who looked like the movie star Jane Wyman, singing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" one day on the way to the beach. She became ill and Diane lost her mother when she was just a girl. After my parents died, Diane and I exchanged Christmas cards for awhile. I never told her how much I envied her big bedroom, the one she didn't have to share and her Bugs Bunny clock.I can see it still after all these years.I found Diane today on Facebook and sent her a friend request.I want her to know that this day, I am praying for her safety and have such fond memories of her and our time together.

Susan is the other friend on my mind today.We worked together in downtown Atlanta and I was the better for our friendship.She was a sunny companion, always a smile and a gracious remark.We went to exercise and Bible Study together and I can see her with her carrots for lunch on her weight loss programs. Kind to everyone and a pleasure to be around.

A few years ago, I heard from her on Facebook after a family tragedy. She asked for prayers and I was honored to do so. She is a survivor, overcoming challenges while raising her daughter.I don't quite know where she is in Florida but my prayers for her and her family surround her this day.

I wrote the other day that it has become clear that my calling at this point in my life is gratitude and intercessory prayer and I have had no qualms about that until today. To be awakened at 3:30 with these friends on my mind seems a bit overwhelming. But then I think of these long ago friends and how my memories are only good ones and I am grateful.

"I see from my house by the side of the road
by the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardour of hope,
The men who faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears-
Both parts of an infinite plan;
Let me live in a house by the side of the road 
and be a friend to man.:...Sam Walter Foss