BEING A FRIEND

It's been a while since I blogged.  Almost six months.  Doesn't mean that I have stopped writing, creating and putting this name out there.

My book was launched into the world in February.  It is quite a beauty, I must say.  I have a few boxes to fly out to all of your hands, but this blog is not a commercial.  It's a big hug.

I've had life-long friends in my piece of  New York where I live.  That doesn't include the New York City and try-state area loves I've met along the journey.  I try to be in contact with people, and social media helps.  It is not like a personal phone call or a few lines written down by hand, signed "With Love" from me.

Life-long friends are hard to come by as we age.  My husband, who is six years older, has had a few pass away in the last 5 years.  That actually terrifies me.  My siblings have gone, they were younger.  There were (sorta) good reasons why their lives were cut short.  But to make it to 60 plus years and have a friend die...well, that cuts me to the core, sometimes.  That is called mortality.

We've aged, I know.  Does that mean that we can't see each other as young souls anymore?  Do they see me as my little hippie wannabe in my teens and 20's?  Do I judge them because they let their hair grey?  Dare we keep the conversation going as we age, bringing out all the aches and pains, surgeries, deaths, upsets that life gets thrown at us in our aging?

We spent a few months in the Florida sunshine.  I call it going into the "Witness Protection Program" since nobody knows your background or financial situation.  It was hard to make friends for me.  I have so many women and men that I can be real with.  It's like starting over in Kindergarten, making friends, breaking into the "in" crowd, being seen with the "popular" people.  It's lovely not to know who those people are!  I come back to my hometown and take a deep breath.  Yes, I may not see the old gang at first.  I may not see them at all.  But the memories are here.  The weekends at Fire Island, the friends whose kids grew up with ours, all the  memories of baseball, soccer, First Communions, Graduations and parties on Saturday nights.  The comfort I feel just having the air around me know that this is where we sprung our roots together.

If I have been a good friend to you, I'm glad.  If there is anything I failed to do, please forgive me.  Because you are important to me.