My Friend - My Self

I was taken by surprise at the sharp minds of both my cousins. Not only did they recount many memories of the past – that is one thing we tend to retain as age increases – but they were just as sharp and clear on the present. In fact, Jane was remarkable in the exacting directions she had given us on getting to Elizabeth. If you know us, you will know of course we didn’t quite follow them so it was a very good thing we had both the Googled print-outs as well as a very good Pennsylvania map! After leaving Elizabeth we felt it might be good to try harder to follow her directions and I called Linda too, to be sure we had a fairly clear idea what we were doing.

It was a nice day for travel. I was, as usual, “plugged in” and purring with being in the mountains. There is something maternal in them for me. Everything was green; the sky was very like that in the UK – lots of overcast grey and mist, but only one hard rain storm we’d hit early in the day. We had sun from time to time, but we kept thinking of Ft. William in Scotland.

Driving through the various Pennsylvania towns kept taking me back to my days with Aunt Mar. Towns in which she had shopped, had friends, had doctors, paid bills. I always hear their names in my head in her voice.

So far that day I had eaten one can of SlimFast, one bite of a scone, some coffee, a banana and a few sips of a root-beer float that the staff at Jane’s home had brought in for Jane and me. I’d had a few sips and saved the rest for Larry who had gone out to the car for a while. He had some yogurt out there, sat in the car and enjoyed the day and the view of the farm. So at this point he had had breakfast, the majority of the scone, a banana, coffee, the root-beer float and some yogurt. It was getting on to seven o’clock and we were ready for a meal! We assumed Linda and Bob had gone ahead and eaten, perhaps saving us some leftovers. However, when we arrived at their lovely home about an hour later, we discovered they had waited for us! Bob had had a fire burning in the ring out back, it had been put out by a passing storm and he had relit it. We were all pretty quickly out there grilling hotdogs over the open flame and catching up would wait until we had all eaten.

Linda and I have such a bond of friendship. She was the teacher who took over Aunt Mar’s class when my dear Aunt retired. They were very close. As Aunt Mar aged, Linda was there for her….and for me. I was just too far away to be of any good when she needed me. I began to think of Linda as almost an appendage of myself. When she would be at the elderly lady’s bedside, I would almost feel I was beside her. We were both so devoted to my aunt and loved her so deeply. And we both still grieve her. We both carry such joy that we were part of her life, and such sorrow that she is gone. And I think we both feel an attachment to each other in so many ways. That kind of friendship is such a blessing!

After dinner, we four sat outside cooking marshmallows and beginning the process of catching up.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Larry and I could easily just move in to Bob and Linda’s home! Not only is it welcoming and warm to visit, but there is so much about the house and the property that makes us both feel so at home.

There are, of course, the prerequisite mountains for me, but there is the wonderful garden of corn, tomatoes, green beans, peas, onions, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, rutabagas and more, plus flowers everywhere. Larry simply drools over the colorful flower beds and pots everywhere you look. He envies the garden. In as much as we get almost no sun on our property, we can’t even think about gardens. But it is lovely to visit friends, enjoy the sight, relish the produce, and leave again – no weeding involved! Each time we have been to their house Larry has come away convinced that “next year” he will put in for a garden plot at Barclay Farmstead. Maybe once we’ve retired.