Thoughts While Finishing the Soup.

I came home today to my house smelling aromatically of turkey soup. Wendy had started a pot for me, and the warm homey smell made me realize how priceless this moment was. And, the most precious part of it -- I had done nothing. It was a gift.

As I was finishing it off and straining and chopping I thought about our friendship that has spanned a space of some 37 years.

In 1969 I was transplanted from Long Island to the Catskill Mountains. Wendy had also moved from Long Island, but a few years before me.

The kids were very different that those I knew at St. Frances de Chantal, it took me a long time to make friends, and I did not have that many.

My father was a teacher in one of the local elementary schools that fed into the Jr High and High school, and he quickly got a reputation for being a hard, strict, and sometimes mean teacher. Many of the kids hated him, and as they moved up into the High School they would torture me about him. I snapped a few times, and as a result beat up a few boys. After that I was left alone. So very alone.

In the stress of trying to survive this, Wendy and I found one another, and spent 6 years together being best friends, learning how to navigate life. We were both in the top 20 of our class, and were known for our talents.

Wendy taught me how to put on make up, loaned me her bikinis when we went swimming (they were always too big but oh-so-much-nicer than any of my suits).I jealously watched Wendy’s romances, while my crushes played out only in my head.

There are many stories to tell about the time we spent together. We have been to each other’s weddings (twice for each one of us) and through divorces. We have been through the deaths of each other’s father, and now we both faced someone in our immediate family become ill with cancer.

Say a prayer or meditation for Wendy’s brother Gary, who is in the hospital. He is stable, but has end stage cancer. Each evening we have laughed and cried over our wounds, shared stories about our dysfunctional families, and it is like we never left the halls where we shared the deepest of friendship while the world rocked around us.

Thanks for your love. Patti