Fall Ramblings on Friends

I read a devotional this morning by Barbara Sanders.  She used Proverbs 18:24 in her piece and it really struck home with me.  I began asking myself, "What kind of friend are you?"  The verse states: "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."  I am a very fortunate person.  I have many friends that I pick up, like flowers along life's path.....and then I have a few friends that have been part of my life for a long time.  I have a couple that have been my friends since I was 5. 

Carol(she is the bride in the picture) lived behind us when we moved to 1127 El Prado in West Palm Beach and we became friends before our parents had even met.  When she and her family moved to 1132 El Prado we developed a pass through so we could get to each other's house quicker. (There was only one house between us....and that is where the Gunnells/Andersons lived.)  I was with Carol when my brother, Dougie, died.  We went to school together, we walked to Belvedere together, we rode the bus to Forest Hill together, we graduated together, we spent countless nights at each others houses, we went to PBJC together...even when she began dating Jeff....we did stuff together....the only difference was now there were three of us.  Jeff became my good friend too.  They live in South Carolina now and I live in Alabama....and I know where she is....and I know we are still friends. 

Susan and I also became friends when we were five.  She lived just around the corner from me.  We also went to school together, we played together....but we were different friends,  Susan and I drifted in and out of each others lives over the years.  I attended FUMC and she attended Northwood Baptist.  Even with us being separated.....I always knew she was there....and hoped she always knew I was for her.  We graduated together and went to PBJC together.  She met and married Chuck and they live in Knoxville, TN....and even today....we can go months without physically seeing each other....and when we get together it is like we have never been apart.  She is the friend I can call at any time of the day and she will pray for me, come to me, stay with me.  Once in my life I thought she was my long lost cousin....but that was not really true.  I was sad when my aunt burst that bubble.  I also have a group of Bible Study friends that know things no one else knows.....and they also know where my journals and bible study books (especially Beth Moore's Breaking Free) and know that if anything ever happens to me they are to come into my house and burn them.  Sigh......but you know it is true that most of you also have friends like this over our lifetimes....you know...life-long friends, season friends, short term friends.....family friends. 

Amanda(and her sisters) is that one for me.  She is my cousin/sister/friend.  She is another one of those I can call at any hour and know she is holding me up....and I her.

I have grieved many times over the years when I have lost a friend....even those I knew in school that I chose to drop because of some silly jealousy.  That friend for me was Donna(green dress in the wedding picture).....she upset my ego and my already shallow self-esteem took a beating.  I have had friends that I shared things I might never discuss with others....only to find myself betrayed.  Friendships are hard.   One of the things I love so about Frank is his ability to be my friend as well as my precious husband.  We are comfortable spending time together....or with others.  I do have one very special friend that I talk to a lot on my way to work each morning.....his name is Jesus.  Over the past couple of years I have cried out to Him more than once and find myself again discussing life with Him on a daily regular basis as I deal with the illness of my special friend/soulmate/sister, Mary.  Since July I have found myself bargaining with God, yelling at Him, crying to Him, and finally...I have gotten to the place where we just talk....calmly.....and it has been good for me.  Mary and I have been friends for over 20 years.  We have traveled together, laughed together, cried together.....I feel as if she sees inside my soul.  I know she does.  Yesterday on my visit with her....she asked my how I was doing.  I quickly answered, "I'm fine."  She kept looking at me....through me....and she made her funny face she makes when she knows I am not telling her the whole truth.....I looked at her and answered again that I was fine.....she said, "Really?"  I looked back into her eyes and told her...."You know I am not fine....I will survive.....but right now I am hurting.  This is not the way it was supposed to be.....but I will be fine."  She smiled a weak smile and told me that she knew.  Rita came in about that time and I slipped out.  I listened to music all the way to Daviston and cried.  Avalon's song, "Testify to Love" was blaring from my car....and I was singing my heart out.  Ok....Once I got it out....I listened to God in the words of the song.  When I got home I was ok....tired...but ok.  Yesterday after my pity party....I went to my one friend that I have a daily visit with.  One hour to Alex City and one hour home from Alex City.  He is my  bestest friend.  He loves me like no other friend could and I am so glad he is in my life and definitely in my corner! Yes, I know that Jesus loves me! click on my link and celebrate friendship with me.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Today is my dear friend Mary's birthday. I call her Mar si dotes (after the song Mar si dotes and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy)...for the longest time she thought I had made this up...I wish I could say I was that original...but I am not...and just think of all the royalties I would be raking in....anyways I love celebrating her special day with her. On her 50th birthday I had a free trip to Hawaii and took her. We spent a week enjoying the sights and sounds of Hawaii. Her sweet hubby Bill kicked in and sent us to the big island to see Mt. Kilaua. It was awesome. Today, I don't have a free trip to give her...but I am taking her to Lafayette, AL to the Main Event (a really cool spa) and we are having Aveeda Pedicures. How fun does that sound? We don't have a whole lot of time together today because she works every Tuesday and Thursday nights at the hospital as a Rad Tech and tonight is her night on, so we will have to cram in a wonderful few moments of being pampered. I can't wait to go! There is nothing I love more than a good pedicure...unless it is a really good massage. Now that is total luxury. If I ever when the lottery....it will be massages and pedicures every day....or at least every week. I have to tell you my Mary story before I sign out. Mary and I both teach at BRHS. She is a Special Ed Science teacher and we were both hired the same year. During a bomb threat or fire drill....I don't remember which one....Mary hung her foot in a storm drain and the school, fell and broke her ankle. I sat with her until they were able to move her. We became best buds from that day on. We have children the same age, we love the same things, we are both transplants to the area, and I would have to say she is the closest thing I have to a sister. Her sister lives in Bangor, ME so they don't see each other a lot and Amanda lives in the Valley...but works in Raleigh....so I don't see her a lot...so it is like the old Sonny and Cher song..."I got you babe!" I don't believe in reincarnation...but if I did...Mary and I knew each other in another life. We complement each other nicely....like Mutt and Jeff. I am the tall one...she is the short one. Soulmates are not always easy to come by in life...and when you do it is a joyous thing. Mary is mine...and if we ever are not friends...I will have to kill her....she knows too much about me. Of course...I know just as much about her. LOL!...But then...that is what friends are for! Happy Birthday Mary and I hope we celebrate many many more!

The Season of a Friend

Diana, Susan, Kat and Casey - the girls from AP class.

Kat, Raegan, Julie Mac - Picture 1 Amy, Kat, and Elizabeth - Picture 2

Kat and Jill - airport park Jessica and Kat - TN.

Jill, Jan, Scott, Kat - K'ville

The Queen Bees - Beth, Merf (Mary Rachel), and Kat - Madwind Road

I was looking through some pictures, scanning some for a photo project I am working on, and I found several pictures of my daughter Kat and her friends from childhood. It is kind of a funny story....at one time my whole Sunday School class was in various stages of expectancy....so it was only natural that our children all grew up as friends....the sad part about friendships are that they change when we get older....and friends that we were inseperable from when we were twelve....we may never hear from again after we marry......sooooo...while I was working on the project....I felt the need to blog and here I am. I used this poem in the photostory....and thought I would share it and some of the pictures with you today....after all...Valentines day is not just about your significant other....it is telling all the special people in your life that they are special....isn't it? So to all of Kat's friends....whereever you are right now....Happy Valentines Day. My life is a bit richer because you walked through my door.

The Way It Should Be
by Vergil F.e. Tudtud

Solitude have I to endure,seemingly held with disclosure.

A fellow left astray,as yet from yesterday.

Flashing your dainty, disarming smile,warms my heart every once in a while.

Our longtime kinshipwill always bloom with friendship.

It has never been so profound,a lifetime friend have I found.

Let our friendship be a bond,which can never be like a dry pond.

Let us not forget the dreams we share,forever like sisters or brothers we care.

You'll always be a friend to me,and that's the way it should be.

Tres Amigos

Here we are.....the three amigos. One of us is earth, one fire, and the last one is water. We have a ball together. We have cruised the Carribbean together, covered the entire state of Florida, we are just BFF's. I love both of them.

Jo, the one in the hat, is a pistol. You would love her. She is a spitfire. Jo is a widow and Mary and I were both there when she went down that road. We did not want her to be alone. We also were with her when her second love died. That one was kind of strange....you see....Mary and I did not like him....one little bit. Who knows....we were probably jealous about the time he was stealing from us.....but when we went to Louisiana to attend Pat's funeral with Jo....we met a person we did not ever know....It is our job to be supportive of each other and we take that assignment very seriously. Now, back to Jo....let me tell you about this woman....she is amazing she can do anything a man can do around a house....quicker and better. She is an excellent cook. She truly can bring home the bacon....and fry it up in the pan. You have not lived until you have eaten her chicken and dumplings. I don't even like the things but I love hers. She is just the neatest person ever. She dresses with a sensual style....and has an aura about her I envy. She never meets a stranger and owns any room she walks into. I wish I could do that....but alas....I cannot.

Mary, the one holding the hat....is very different. She is my soulsister for sure. I believe without a doubt that we truly were sisters from birth....just from other mothers. We can finish each others sentences.....now that can be scary. We can carry on multiple conversations with each other. Most of the people we meet think we are blood relatives. We are both very protective of the other. The two of us have a lot in common. We have children who walk to different drummers....as did we. We are both transplants to Alabama.....we both love to read, scrap book, mess with computers, mess with photography (although she is better than me.) Mary is a military brat. She has lived all over the place but finished her years at home in Monroe, Louisiana. She can spout forth great words of wisdom in cajun and in french. She has a fascinating family history....especially the story about the Margarite law....still on the books in Louisiana. She loves the outdoors. She kayaks with her son, Jessie. She loves the beach.....and is very protective of my lilly white skin when we go to soak up the rays. We are business partners. We have a little travel agency on the side called Two Teachers Travel and we also have a couple of booths at Long Leaf Antiques and Flea Market in our town. We love hunting for the perfect thing to sell. Mary has a wonderful hubby, Bill. Now that man can do things on a grill that should be being sold in restaurants. I feel guilty that we get to eat his fare and the rest of the world does without. Too bad....so sad! I can't imagine my life without her in it. She picks up the pieces when I break, gives me strength when I am weak....and kicks my butt when I do something stupid. What a friend!

We are all a bit ADD. You cannot keep any of the three of us focused for any length of time. Mary and Jo share tats. They each have at least one. The only ones I have ever had were painted on in henna....or peel and sticks. I hate the thought of pain....and a needle. It doesn't matter if we have a barrel of money....are ragged and funny....we travel along.....singing our songs....side by side. Praise the Lord for such awesome friends. I hope when we are ninety and in the nursing home....people will still believe how cool we are.

Chao for now,

Karen

On Being a Paramedic

Ok...quick story and then I have something very special for you to read. My childhood friend Jeannie Berry.....moved from Florida to North Dakota when we were teenagers....and we lost track of each other....until a few years ago....we found each other again with the help of the internet. Anyways...she is a paramedic...and wrote an amazing saga about being a paramedic. I thought it was definitely worth sharing it with my readers so here it is:

Hi! The following is my story of working a declared emergency as a paramedic. It is also my new blog on myspace. Hope you get a picture of what it is like for all emergency workers when there is an emergency in your area. Take time to appreciate them all.

I have just finished working a 72 hour shift - most of which was during a time of a declared emergency due to a winter storm. I have to say it was very exciting, but almost scary, at times. The storm came in with ice first - LOTS of ice! Then we had snow, then slush, then ice... through it all, the roads were very slick and, at times, almost impassable. Trees were falling across roads - and on houses - power lines were coming down - yet people still had to get out in their cars to see what was going on. The result was.................... car accidents running out our ears! I would get a call for one and have more coming in before I even finished that one! My partner and I decided we needed to have the power of arrest in times like this. No one was supposed to be on the road anyway, but of course, the ones who think they are an exception and they can do anything because nothing is going to happen to them - they were the ones we were running to. There were so many joyriders going in the ditch and hitting each other and we had to go see if there were injuries and get a refusal - and here the truck is tied up and can't respond to another call that really needed us. We should have been able to arrest them right there! Well... we should have been able to do something! How about the power of citation?I was the only medic in the county for 60 hrs of it, so I was kept hopping! If I was on one of these calls where there was supposed to be injuries... Well, here is an example: I was on one of these calls waaaay out on a mountain and a call came in for a broken back. They had to send a basic crew out with the rescue squad to go up and get him. They got him packed up and tried to bring him down the way they went up and too many trees had fallen. It took them over an hour to find a way to get him down and to the truck. By then I was free of the accident scene and was waiting for them. If these "stupid" people had stayed home I would not have been at a joyriders accident and I would have been available to go up with the squad and get him.We drove over trees, through trees, under trees so low and ice laden that I think the truck even ducked to try to make it. Over power lines and under them so low that I actually felt the truck cringe when they scraped the top. We crawled along mud tracks with the rescue units cutting a way for us through the fallen trees. I was at an accident scene - again a joyrider - when a tree almost fell on me. Well, not real close - but close enough! It scared me. I refused to look up because if I was going to get hit, I didn't want to see it coming since there was nothing I could do about it anyway. I figured if God determined it was my time and He chose a tree to take me home, I just didn't want to know about it first.With no electric we had trouble finding fuel, food was hard to find... no lights or heat at the station (not that we really got to see it), our radios were out and I was the only one with a working cell phone so that was our contact with dispatch.I ended up with a 5 yr old who couldn't breathe and I had to be taken in by the rescue unit amphious vehicle, a diabetic emergency, 2 chest pains, a serious cardiac dysrhythmia, a broken back (fell 30 feet out of tree he was cutting limbs out of), a broken hip, abdominal pain (again taken in by rescue),... there was more - and the myriad of car accidents. You get the picture by now, I guess.I think if I had any doubts as to whether this was what I should be doing, I sure have none now. I am glad I was working during this time. I enjoyed every minute of it and to know I was there during a time of crisis is a feeling I can't explain.We don't get the recognition that fire and police get - and that is okay. I don't do it for recognition. The thing is... you may not hear much about us but if you need us - we are there! I am proud to be a paramedic!

Jeannie