FRIENDS

Friends are wonderful.  Yes, we all know this but sometimes it needs to be said out loud. 

Houston friends were in town and called us for dinner.  Darling asked 5,280 times:  Now who is coming?  Where will we meet them?  What time?  Where do they live?  Etc!!!  After answering about 200 times I wrote it on the dry erase board for him.  Yes, I am slow.  Then when he would ask, I would say to read the board.  I noticed a twitch in my leg.  Twitch.  More questions. Twitch.  More questions.  Twitch.  I am even getting tense telling about it. 

They finally got here.  My jaws were clenched.  We went to McClains.  (Good old McClains.)  Our good friend Tom even met us there.  Tom’s wife could not come; she was at home with her mother in her caregiver capacity.  She has been a caregiver for the 20 years we have known her and even before that.  She puts the rest of us in the shade as caregivers.    

We talked.  We told each other about upcoming wedding plans for our granddaughters.  We heard old stories about motorcycle accidents, restoring cars, square dancing.  I noticed my jaws had unclenched.  Darling kept ordering more beer.  Then he forgot he ordered it so when the waitress brought it, he thought she was  reading his mind.  We were all laughing including Darling.

When the evening was over I realized I was smiling, relaxed, okay with the world. 

That is what friends can do for us.