From the Book of Seven Hundred Album Verses dated 1884.
"Remember me is all I ask,
And, if remembrance be a task,
Forget me"
I came across this verse and thought it so appropriate today as I thought back to previous times in my life and those I have known. We remember some special people who cross our paths but for the most part, we forget the majority. But how many best friends does one have in a lifetime? This question bothered me as I read these old verses and wondered about the friends they had left behind and that I had also left behind in my years of traveling and living in other places.
" Farewell! perhaps forever,
Beloved one adieu!
Wilt Thou this token please to take,
And keep it long for friendship's sake;
And when these lines you chance to see,
Remember, that they came from me."
from Seven Hundred Album Verses
1884
I remember my first friend in First Grade, Jessica. We played at Recess around the old flag pole until she moved away to Argentina
because of her father's job with the oil company. She had braids and was a great friend while it lasted. I ran into her at our high school reunion at 20 years. First time we had seen each other in all those years. I felt like I could have taken up right where we left off.
Then the next best friend was Vern, and she was more mature than I was even though I was a few months older which I knew was due to her having older brothers and me not. She tied my shoes for me. I had seen her a few times in the early married years when we lived in Calif. and she in Phoenix, and they were a stopping off place for us on our trips home to Texas. Then we moved to Florida and she to Georgia. Then we next met at the same reunion. She was still Vern.
Older like me but still Vern.
After that the next best friend was Ella. I guess of all 3 she was the best for longest. We were still bests when we graduated from High school and moved away and went to school away from our small town. We did not meet until my Mother was dying and she came to my store which I had by then so I could have days off to take Mom for medical care, after having retired from my job with the government. Then she was there for me at the funeral. Like no time had intervened.
Her mother had died shortly before. We have since seen each other twice, emailing though regularly.
After moving away and later having a family, I had no real real best friends until after the kids were a little older and I was divorced. Then I had a friend named Debbie in Florida. She was a native Floridian. We worked together. She had one small little girl named Starr. I had my two sons. We have not met since 1977 when I moved but keep in touch.
Then my next best friend would be Marilyn. We also worked in Florida together for a short while but then continued to be friends all through the years I lived there and afterwards we communicated by phone about every 2 months. Or by mail back when people did that kind of thing. She refuses to email so someday I know she will catch up. We have seen each other once in all these years since I moved away in 1977 from Florida back home to Texas.
We are still so very close.
Now I have friends but some come and go. That seems to be the way of it. I have one friend, joy who has been with me for over 20 years since she came to our office to work. We have both retired and she is in Austin and we never get to visit except by phone or email now. She has a new grandbaby and another on the way.
There have been other friends, Vera, Norma, and so on.
I have newer friends like Kat and we share an interest in antiques and she has the store just down the block from me. We have gotten to be very good friends and confidants. As I said we share the woes of selling antiques and the successes as well. Same with Diana who has a store in Trinity and I used to be across the street from her for a short time. We have dinner once a month or so and keep up.
That is a brief excerpt from my life as far as friends go.
Lois
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