Losing Friends

Mom used to tell me how sad she was that she'd lost her friends. At 95, she's sadly lost all her closest friends and now even the sisters in Hawaii. She does still have a sister and brother in Japan because they are quite a bit younger than she is. However, she's happy now that she's found more friends at her day care.

But anyway... I just figured it was an unavoidable and sad thing about living to be 95.

But good grief! I've lost too many friends in the last few years now and we were all about the same age. I still can't believe they're gone. I think they'll all be with me forever.

We met Jean and her husband in June, 2007 on a biking (Art's idea) cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium. They were from California living quite close to Art's sister's house. 

Jean was a very loving, caring speech teacher. Maybe that's why we were drawn to each other. 

When she learned I hadn't been on a bike in 30 years, she watched over me like a mother hen, especially when Art was put in a faster paced biking group.

Since she and her husband lived near my sister-in-law we visited with them also whenever we were in California to see Art's family.

Jean and I texted each other often keeping up with what we were doing. 

Her husband called me in June, 2020 when Jean was stricken with uterine cancer. She died in the fall. We were all heartbroken. I still have a framed photo of us all together that she framed and sent me.

I met Ann in 1977 after moving into our Chicagoland neighborhood. There was a tightknit group of us who all became good friends. Our children all became playmates. Ann's daughter was Tiffany's maid of honor. Ann was a nurse and our families spent a lot of our holidays together.

I can't remember what caused Ann's death in 2021. I got news that she was in the hospital and a month later, she was gone. I was in shock and could hardly understand it.

And then there's Peggy. We became best friends in 1975 when we both moved into the neighborhood almost right next door to each other. She drove me everywhere since I didn't drive and then helped me get my drivers license so I could join the preschool carpool. Learning to drive enabled me to go back to college to get a few courses so I could teach in Illinois. I also went back to work teaching. We told each other everything. She and her husband drove from Ohio to Illinois to attend Tiffany's wedding.

I knew Peggy had cancer as a child. But I thought it was gone for good. It came back as leukemia. She died in 2023. Her husband told me she was talking to her late mother and brother when she was dying. We went to her funeral of course. I still have the little wall hangings she gave me decorating my office.

And now Terry. 

Terry and her husband were and are very close friends. Art met them at EPA and they became part of our family.

They were Auntie and Uncle to Tiffany and Keola and came to all their milestone events from preschool on to high school and then to Tiffany's wedding.

Years later, here's Terry with our granddaughter, KC.

Since their wedding anniversary and ours along with another couple were all in January, we had a standing date to go out to a movie and dinner every year in January. 

We were with them last year in May. Terry was fine then. But without warning, she was diagnosed with some rare blood cancer the month after we left.

We were told last month that she'd passed away and I can't quite wrap my brain around it. How? Why?

I just can't believe they're all gone and I'm still devastated and grieving when I think about it. However, I'm also very grateful for all they were to our family. I'm grateful for how they enriched our lives...my life. 

And now... I'm grateful for all the friends and relatives (and blog friends) I have now who continue to enrich and add so much love, fun, knowledge and friendship for me and my family.