REAL FRIENDS

How could I not use this quote?

Probably difficult to read on the card so here goes ...

real friends

life is way too short

to live wearing a mask.

real friends love each

other for who they are,

not perfection.

fake is hollow.

fake is temporary.

real shows up in

the mess, in the hard,

in the good, in the normal,

in the mundane, in the best.

friendship matters most.

An already emotional day became even more emotional.

While at my son's fundraiser last month,

a woman came up to me

and took both of my wrists in her hands.

Her face was not more than a foot from mine.

I just stared at her.

She just stared at me.

My mind was racing a mile a minute

trying to figure out where I knew her from.

I thought perhaps I'd met her a few days prior

at my son's and grandson's ball game.

Or could I have met her just the night before at my son's house?

I looked at her husband and he looked a *little* familiar

but couldn't place him either.

Was it somebody that was a former neighbor?

Did they go to school with my son?

Finally she said, "Sue, don't you remember me?"

I kept staring at her.

Finally it dawned on me.

I said, "Gerry, what are you doing here?"

She said, "I'm here for YOU!!!  That's what friends do."

I had not seen her in 30 years.

Years!

We were very good friends in junior and senior high school

and then life got in the way. 

We lost contact.

After graduation, we didn't see much of each other.
Then she helped me put together our first high school reunion.

And then she helped me with the 25-year reunion.

That five-year interim we stayed close again.

And then I moved out of state shortly after our 30-year reunion

and we completely lost contact with each other.

"That's what friends do!!!"

Those eight words keep bouncing around in my head.

I will never ever forget the kindness she displayed that day.

It was probably close to an hour's drive from their home

to the fundraiser.

On a Sunday afternoon.

Yet they came there for ME.

Holy smokes.

For ME.

She showed up "in the mess, in the hard …"

For ME.

I will never ever forget that!

Never.

From the bottom of my heart,
thank you Gerry and Al.

I still get choked up about it.