Of Friends, Beauty and Thanksgiving
One gift for me these past weeks has been my friend Lorraine who gave me so much - not just in terms of the generosity of renting a truck and driving me from Mesa to New York - a remarkable gift in itself, but also in her spirit of adventure, her unflappable good nature, her humor and her unwillingness to let ANYTHING get her (or me) down and stop us. When Abigail the Antique Kitty got sick on the road, we just found a vet and got her taken care of. When we arrived at my new home to find the pre-arranged contingent of strong men to carry my things upstairs had not materialized, Lorraine did it herself with my new landlord. She turned a black bathtub into something that looks brand new. (I do have to do an Oxyclean commercial here. It is remarkable stuff.) When we had to take Abby to the vet again instead of picking up my car, she found a solution. It was a great trip. What could have been devastating for me - arriving here to find no movers, the landlord's furniture still in the apartment - was for Lorraine, just something to be dealt with. And always with humor and good cheer. She is awesome. What is even more remarkable about her generosity is that although it always feels as though we have known each other forever (and perhaps in the greater scope of time and space we have), our friendship is not one of many hours of bonding. In 1978, agoraphobish as I already was, I decided to take a trip across the US. I did pretty well for someone who's afraid of her own shadow. I worked for a while in Minneapolis, met my brother in California (we were not yet estranged) and did some travel with him and then stopped in Seattle and worked there for two months. Lorraine was one of my co-workers and we became friends in the time I was there. Since then we've seen each other 4 times - two visits she made to New York City, a visit to Mesa last year, and this trip. Wow. I am awed by her. And profoundly grateful.
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