Monday, July 10, 2006

Old Is Not A Dirty Word

"Old" friends, the good "old" days, ah yes even the lyric " Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?" The exposure I've received from the AARP Magazine that touted we more mature bloggers continues to reward me in the most wonderful ways.

Shortly after the article appeared I received an e-mail from the husband of an old friend from our Houston days. She had succumbed to cancer ten years or so ago and it had been another ten on top of that since I had seen her. We had moved on and contact was lost. Until John saw the article.

Those days in Houston. We were all thirty something. Ambitious, brash, sure of ourselves. Involved in everything. And this was just the women! Very Texan.

Linda was President of the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and I was her p.r. person. She was one of the best. Able, charming and drop dead gorgeous. Not the flashy, "big hair" Texas type - natural. Compassionate. Her daughter had the disease. A beautiful young girl who could make a harp sing. It made your heart ache.

It's funny what one remembers most. John remembered the trip Linda and I took together to Montana. Mike was traveling a lot for an oil company. Our plan was to meet in Deer Lodge for his high school reunion and return home together.

JDF had some fund raising events looming so we decided Linda would ride with me and we'd plot. Then I'd put her on a plane home. There was a kicker of course. We had two Saint Bernards that were coming along as our protectors and traveling companions. Snifter and Mug. There are heel ruts still, I'm sure, along our route where Snifter would drag Linda on walks! Ah, yes, it was a great trip, we had barrels of fun - and actually got our plotting done.

I often wonder how I could possibly have let some of these wonderful people fade from my life. One moves on; gets busy. Yet sometimes good fortune smiles upon you and an old friend will see your name and care and call. Thank you John. I won't let you get away again!

1 comment:

Word Tosser said...

I have always thought of life like a book...chapters are written,as you go...people weave in and out of each chapter... and some times you have to look back at an old chapter to catch up to have the next chapter written.
Glad your AARP.. article has brought back one of those chapters, to help write the next one.