It seems that a BLOG entitled HIP HIP HOORAY should be about happy things and happy times--
So that's what this will be... HIP HIP HOORAY-happy times, places, things. Here goes......
Do you have one of those friends who, though you see them infrequently, when you DO see them, you ALWAYS have fun? Someone who you feel like no time has passed since the last time you were together? I have a couple of these friends and had the opportunity last week to reconnect with one of them.
Our friend, we'll call her Cap, sent a message that her father had a stroke and she was making her way to Florida. You see, she spends winters in Bonaire, which made an emergency trip all the more difficult. Knowing that she has no siblings, and her mother has passed, we knew that she was all alone on this journey. No, the story isn't about sadness and difficult times with a parent... It is about good times, reconnecting and finding strength in difficult times.
Our place in Florida, it turns out, is only 2 hours away from where her father was "wintering", so a two hour drive on a rainy day seemed a no-brainer. The reunion in the hospital parking lot was epic! She had told her dad that we were coming and explained to us that the stoke had left him with no communication skills. If you know me well, you know that undaunted, we went into his hospital rooms and greeted him as we would any other time. He knows Koz and I as "the girls". At 92 he doesn't know who is who(we all look alike anyway!), but every time that we see him in his New Buffalo home, we enjoy a visit and the stories that he tells. Upon our arrival and greeting, we got a smile from him--apparently the first since the stroke-- A breakthrough!! Cap was so happy that we got a reaction - We all cried.
But again, this isn't about the sadness of a parent struggling with illness. It is about enduring friendships that last across time and space. As luck would have it we were in a "waterfront town" At home, it is New Buffalo Michigan and the shores of Lake Michigan. Here, it was Englewood Florida and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. As we always do, we walked the beach, the 3 of us, just like always--drizzle and wind weren't going to stop us! As always, we talked and walked, walked and talked. And we ate.
Friendship is a responsibility, not just an opportunity to get together. We take it seriously. And we reap the benefits of that responsibility-Laughter in the face of sadness and love amidst difficult times.
There will will be difficult times ahead, but for that one day that began sadly, the promise of support, encouragement, and LOVE made it a GREAT DAY.
HIP HIP HOORAY!!!
