Block 26

Are you lucky enough to have a

BESTEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD?

If  not,

then you have no idea

what you are missing.

Block #26

is for the

FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

Diane,

really Diana

but I don't think I have ever

called her by her given name,

and I have known each other

close to 50 years now.

Bestest Friends

for 45 years,

give or take a year or two.

To be honest,

I can't remember

a time in school when I didn't know her.

But,

I still remember the day

when I knew we were BEST FRIENDS

not just good friends.

Junior High,

standing by our lockers outside the shop class,

we had similar spring coats on

AND the popular

triangle scarves.

We made matching scarves

and the rest,

as they say,

is history.

So why,

you may ask,

a sleeping angel

and a cat for a

BESTEST FRIEND

IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD?

Diane started her married life

our sophomore year in college.

Kim came along real quick after.

When I would go home on weekends

I would always visit her.

She was not only being

a wife

and mother to a knew little girl,

but she was working full time.

I can not count

the number of times

she fell asleep

while we were watching some show

 on TV.

but, it did become a joke.

She knew she could get some sleep

when I showed up.

And I knew I could

watch cable TV.

(This was 1970-71 you know.

Not a lot of cable TVs then.)

Now, the cat

leaning over the top

and whacking at the angel.

She became the mother

to Barney and Betty,

litter mates from another friends

Boris and Natasha.

(Getting another TV image here?)

Both lived a long

and happy life.

The last time I visited Diane,

in Tennessee,

Barney had died,

and Betty was going to be going soon.

It was just one of those things you knew.

So,

before we left her house,

I went on a search for Betty.

She was under their bed.

I crawled under,

just far enough to pet her,

and said my goodbyes.

So,

the cat is a reminder

of not only Barney and Betty,

but of all of the other cats

Diane "adopted"

when she was still in Indiana.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for Diane. From the 1st times I spent the night at her house as a child to the last time I spent the night at her house as an adult, I have known true friendship. You, in Your infinite wisdom, have blessed me with someone who is special.

We never had disagreements, though we each knew when the other wasn't happy with the other. But the friendship was so much more important than the argument.

We knew that the other was always there, come thick or thin, good times or bad, happy or sad. We KNEW that the other one was either a phone call away or in their car driving to wherever we were because they knew the other one needed them.

Blues Brothers traveling on the highways of Indiana . . that was us. (Hope you remember the greeting card and the joke, Lord . . we both thought it was perfect and a hoot at that.)

Amen.

(742)