Gratitude: "I Get By...

...with a little help from my friends"

--The Beatles

Friendship is a funny thing.  I arrived late to the party when it comes to having girl friends.  I always was a "guy's" kinda gal and felt more comfortable having a posse' of testosterone around me than estrogen.  A psychologist could have a field day with me on this topic.  But I just always had trouble dealing with the drama a gaggle of gals can bring to the table (myself included). But time, wisdom and maturity has a way of leveling the playing field amongst women.  Truth-be-told we spend our youth trying to develop our individuality, but in the end we realize it is our shared experiences that bring us closer together.

"I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends"

Berks County, PA

(**disclaimer:  not all my lovely "estrogen contributor"s are present in this photo,
AND...that is NOT a bearded lady!)

So I find it quite ironic that when I reached my late 40's I happened upon a group of gals who are now some of my dearest friends.  Who could imagine that a group of former classmates who traipsed the halls of high school together when computers were something we'd only seen on "The Jetsons", were brought together via social networking on Facebook.  We are quite the varied group and were in different "cliques" in the class of '77.  We have a former cheerleader,  a few technical school attendees, a marching band geek, a high school bride, a working girl, a Cuban-born spitfire, and one who lived abroad in our group (I'll let you try to figure out who is who in the photo....but NONE of us had a beard!  That is our 'guy' friend from high school who is a pretty cool drummer that we were seeing this particular evening...who knew THAT in high school!?!  He was a football jock back then).  

What we all now KNOW is that altho we took different paths in our lives, we should never underestimate the binds of a shared past.  We might not have even TALKED to each other in high school due to  labels we each  had on our foreheads, but maturing and shared experiences now mean that no  matter where we go...we take a bit of each other with us.

"Guardian Angel"

Whitemarsh, PA

Which is why it is with sadness I enter this week of Thanksgiving and gratitude.  We lost one of our circle this week.  Our "high school bride"...Lori.  51 years young and taken by lung cancer.  It is hard for me to understand how a disease can tighten a death grip on a young body so thoroughly and so quickly.  Mere months from diagnosis to departure.  Barely time to comprehend and prepare.  But Lori did, and did it with grace, courage and her ever present smile and optimism.   Being the "girls" that we are, we bought Lori wigs to replace her beautiful long hair.  Because we all know we like to look good...even when battling cancer!  I will never forget her face when she saw herself in the wigs for the first time.  You just never know how someone will react to that...sadness? shock? tears?  Not Lori.  She was one sexy chic and she rocked those wigs!  I told her she would catch a young,  good looking doctor as a result of her looking so good on her visits to the hospital.  Not that a young doctor would be able to keep up with her!

"Gratitude"

But God had other plans and took her home.  I am SURE she is up in heaven smiling, laughing and wearing a great pair of shoes and mixing drinks for the party.  

So what does this have to do with gratitude?  Well, how lucky am I to have had someone in my life that is so hard to say goodbye to!  Sometimes sadness is a true blessing. So thank you to Lori, and the rest of my estrogen posse',  for helping me realize the benefits of hanging out with a bunch of crazy females , that maturing doesn't necessarily mean you have to act mature all the time, that lines on my face are a GOOD thing if they are "laugh lines", and disproving the adage that a band geek and a cheerleader can't get along.  Gratitude, sheer gratitude.

R.I.P. Lori.

--The Band Geek