Girlfriends and Mothers

I'm 53 years old and I don't mind the age.  I don't mind getting older.  Not yet, anyway.  The thing that I'm finding to be the most difficult part of aging is that the generations ahead of me are also aging.  It's hard to watch family and friends become ill and die.  That's what my fifth decade of life is now presenting to me.  

I've become more aware of how important my friends and family are to me.  People don't live forever, as a young me never gave much thought to.

 I decided I needed to get together with three of my very best friends that live close to me in my little town, but because of life's busy twists and turns, we don't see each other as much as we used to.  In the "old days", when our kids were all young, there were four of us that would get together every Friday after work for a glass of wine.  And when our kids were too young to be left alone, we would all get together with our kids.  Now, all of our kids are in their late 20's and early 30's and it seems we are unable to get together at all anymore.  We are now busy with grandchildren, jobs that some didn't have before, and at times taking care of ailing parents and in my case until last year - grandparents.

So I made some brownies, chocolate covered strawberries and shrimp soup and invited my three good friends and my mother to my home last Friday. 

 Unfortunately, one friend couldn't make it as her grandson had a school program going on. Another friend was going to bring her ailing mother with her, but she showed up for a brief time alone since her mother was too ill to leave the house.  We still had a very nice visit and caught up again on the very different lives that we all now lead.  

It feels good to be able to share your life with people that have known you forever and have seen each other through all the ups and downs and changes that going from young mothers to young grandmothers brings with it.

For those of you that read this post of mine, I had recently re-connected with a very long time friend of mine.  At that time we made arrangements to get together, along with our mothers who were also long time old friends.  On Monday, Mom and I traveled the three hours to Pittsburgh and had a wonderful visit and lunch with our good friends.  Our mothers hadn't seen each other for about ten years  In that time, Mom's friend, my friend's mother, had a stroke and is now confined to a wheel chair.  I believe she's about two years older than my mother.  Her mind and spirit is good, though, and it was so much fun to catch up with them.

from l-r - my mother, my friend, me, and in front is friend's mother.

It was a little hard to see Mom's friend in a wheelchair, but it was so nice to be able to visit.  It made me realize how lucky I am to have a healthy mother.  It's easy to take this for granted until you face other scenarios.

Yesterday morning I was reminded by my calendar that My Hubby's mother passed away exactly a year ago, on March 2.  We all miss Mother Millie very much.  She was quite a character and always fun to be around.  It's still a little hard to accept that she's no longer here.

Then last night I received a call from one of my local girlfriends to tell me that our other friend's mother,  the mother that was unable to make it to my home last Friday, had just passed away. 

Good-Bye Grandma D.

 It's so strange that these two beautiful, loving mothers in my life passed on the same day one year apart!  I'm even more aware and thankful to still have my mother. 

Aging and living this life is interesting!  Health, family, friends, love and happiness make it worth it!