Reconnecting with Friends and Sisters

Several things happened this last week: First, the bad!

First off, the Durango is gonna cost about $4600 to fix it (read my last blog for a blow-by-blow [sorry for the pun] of our accident at Kaiser Pass). Because it was not our fault, the insurance companies are going to pick up the tab and waive our deductible. However, it will take 7-10 days to fix!

Then there's Beauty: She got a little testy during her 'season' and the Boss Mare came out in her. While being escorted into the barn, she walloped poor Sunshine who, because she is feeling LOTS better than she has in years, kicked her right back. Unfortunately, she made connection with Beauty's front cannon bone (the 'forearm' where there is no fat or padding of any kind) and put a small gash in it. It's not too bad, but bad enough to keep bandaged for a while. Beauty is normally a very well-behaved lady, but hormones must have gotten the best of her this time. Even she can get a little cranky!

But here's the best of the week:

The last three days I went out to lunch with three of my most special friends, shown above with Raymona & Beauty, Janie, and below, Jan & Sunshine.

Raymona and I have known each other for several years. We are both writers and connected immediately at a conference held in Delray Beach, Florida (I think it was either 2002 or 2003). At the time, she was living in Michigan, so when we went home to our respective states, we corresponded via email almost every day. I visited her twice, and she visited me twice, finally moving to Vacaville in the fall of 2007. Her schedule and mine do not coordinate that well, so getting together is sometimes difficult. So we made a date for Thursday (her day off) and went to the Virgin Sturgeon in Sacramento. It's a quaint little dive that barely hangs over the north bank of the Sacramento River. She and I ate and talked and got caught up with what's going on in our lives. We both have traumas and dramas that we are trying to deal with. We support each other. Indeed, we are very much like sisters. Everything was going along fine until a woman who had been eavesdropping, rudely interrupted our conversation.

"Are you writers?" she asked, which prompted a little awkward back-and-forth conversation and some comments on our dessert. We didn't really want to speak with her as it was 'our' time together. I guess she couldn't help herself. She was alone. But all the tattoos (on her fingers and arms), her rough and rude demeanor, and a comment about her time in a correctional center, made us feel very uncomfortable. Hey, it's okay if you've paid your debt to society and all, but PALEEZE, do NOT go around telling everyone, unless you WANT to make people uncomfortable.

We cut lunch a little short (it was time to go--we'd already consumed a rather large piece of chocolate cherry cheesecake) although we probably could have spent another half hour just taking in the river and the scenery.

The next day, Friday, I had lunch with

Janie Bess, a friend since 2003 when she founded the Writers Resource Center. I joined, of course, and promptly got very involved in the meetings and activities. Janie is a whirlwind of ideas. This lady is not only a human dynamo, she's an inspiration. She's not much bigger than your average 9-year-old, somewhere around 4' 10" or thereabouts. She always has a big smile, a ready laugh, and a HUGE hug ready every time you see her. When I first met her, she was in the process of starting WRC because she was writing her memoir, Visions, and wanted to surround herself with other writers and people who could assist her in her quest to get published. Since that time, WRC has grown lots, holding writing conferences and mini-conferences, and hosting publishers, editors, agents, and best selling authors at her meetings.

I met Janie at the Red Lobster where she gave me a card with "Thank You" in various font types and colors all over it. When I opened it, several bills fell out of it. I guess she felt compelled to pay me for some last-minute stuff I did for the youth writing class she gave at the Nelson Center. All I did was make up a certificate for the kids to hang on their wall. I would do this stuff for free for her, but Janie is conscientious about things. She said she didn't want to take advantage. Heck, I'd help her no matter what.

Anyway, we visited for well over an hour, she over a to-die-for talapia dish, and I over a shrimp salad. It was a wonderful day, a great lunch, and time well spent reconnecting with an old friend.

Then yesterday (Saturday), I took Jan out for an afternoon of shopping. Jan is the sister of my barn manager, Brenda. I've only known Jan since March, but she has grown to be quite a buddy. We both love horses and you can often see the four of us, Jan and Sunshine, and me and Beauty together. It's been a bit hectic for Brenda lately, and they both needed a break. Jan is going through some hard times, too, and has some difficult issues that she's having to deal with. Nonetheless, I needed some supplies for Beauty, so Jan and I went to the Tackhouse in Woodland (a great place where they stock just about everything). We walked through all the sections: Clothing (women's, men's, and children's), show clothing, boots, hats, belts; books; housewares; saddles and other tack (Eastern and Western); and all manner of horse supplies. I got a fly mask for Beauty and some fly spray (a summer staple!). Jan bought a bunch of grooming and fly spray/roll-on stuff for Sunshine.

We packed everything up in the Durango and headed on down Main Street. Wouldn't you know we'd run into an antique shop? We popped in for another 45 minutes or so. Jan found a couple of things: A framed print of "The Horse Fair" and a Breyer (Appaloosa) horse. We'd worked up quite an appetite, so we stopped at Paco's Mexican Restaurant (also on Main Street). It used to be an old fashioned brick and granite bank with columns out front and heavy walnut woodwork inside. The vault was a massive tomb of polished white and gray marble. Interesting digs for a Mexican restaurant. The food was excellent!

We got back to the ranch about 3:45, just in time to bring the horses in, spray them down with fly spray, and put them up. Beauty and Sunshine were glad to see us, almost trotting in from the pasture (well, Beauty was walking fast as she rarely works up a sweat on her own). Brenda spent some time shopping with her granddaughter and seemed to be in good spirits. Jan had a good time, too.

Today, Sunday, I am working at the computer and sprucing up the house. I'll go out in a couple of hours to change Beauty's bandage.

Connecting with friends was a major highlight of this week. I am blessed to know all of these people, Raymona, Janie, Jan, and Brenda. I have others I haven't seen for a long time. One of these days I'll see my good friend of over 30 years, Bill, and my friend from the Emergency Medical Services Authority, Karen, whom I've known for 20+ years. They both live in the foothills, and so it's hard to get together to see them. And then there is Fran, a woman I have known all my life, who lives in Arizona. I think about her often, too, as she is well into her eighties.

As I get older, my thoughts more frequently turn to my friends and old memories.

Friends are treasured gifts; they are the people who inhabit your life and you theirs. Friends support your efforts and cheer you on. They offer shoulders to cry on and give words of encouragement. They grease the wheels of life. They are the memory makers and memory keepers. Friends are the primroses along the path of life, the bench under the tree, the shelter from the hot sun, and the sugar in our tea. Are friends necessary? Some would say no, but most would say a resounding "Yes!" Life would be pretty lonely without them.