I just got off of the phone with my good friend Mary.  Mary is 88 years old.  She is amazing.  She just told me that she was sorry she hadn’t called me sooner because she had been sick!  I last saw Mary at my June Margarita/Swimming Party (see photos).  While life tends to make us all busy, why does Mary feel the need to apologize to me for not calling?  I think it must be because I recently sent out a newsletter to everyone who was at the party, therefore, she must feel obligated to make a gesture in return.  My intent was not to make Mary feel guilty by sending out a newsletter, nor anyone else for that matter, but she out of everyone felt the need to pick up the phone and call.  Whatever the reason, I love talking with Mary, because now we have a date next week to have lunch and go shopping.

She is going to see her grandaughter in Northern California at the end of August and then fly up to Portland, OR, where she used to live with her adorable husband, John (he passed away last November), for a long visit with friends of hers that have asked her to come and stay.  You see John was in the Coast Guard and when he passed away last November, she went up to toss his ashes in the water off the Pacific Coast with the Coast Guard, however, the weather was not cooperating and she was unable to do so, at the time.  She had to come back to Arizona, and the Coast Guard, did it without her, they however, sent her a large map of the ocean with actual longitudinal coordinates of where they laid him to rest.  So, I think she is feeling the tug at her heartstrings to go back and say a last farewell.  

She hasn’t been feeling well herself. She has suffered with infection after infection since he passed on, yet she continues to go here and there and zips through life in her little PT Cruiser.  Driving much better than I actually do.  She is quite a safe driver and handles her car very well.  She doesn’t really care what people think of her wearing a hearing aid, because she is really interested in what you have to say, darn it!  So, wait for her to put it in so that she can hear every last word.  

As we were hanging up the phone, she said, “I wanted to tell you how much I love you, if I hadn’t expressed that thought to you yet. You are very special to me, Dana“.  That meant everything to me!  Hearing her say those words, because I told her, “I feel the same about you, Mary“.  Yes, my new friend Mary…amazing that she would apologize for not calling sooner!  I’m so glad she did.