A Friend Indeed

♪♫  When you're down and troubled and you need a helping hand  ♪♫
and nothing, whoa, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there
to brighten up even your darkest nights.
♪
You just call out my name, and you know where ever I am
I'll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall, all you have to do is call

and I'll be there, yeah, yeah,
♪♫  you've got a friend.  ♪♫

- Carole King

Just got back from spending a weekend away with a very close girlfriend. Someone that's meant a lot to me for a very long time.

No, we didn't jet off to an exotic location. No, we didn't head off to party-city. No, we didn't sail away to a distant horizon.

It was better than that!

We don't get to see each other much. Living 2 hours away from each other tends to get in the way. Email, texting and facebook keeps us connected. (Seriously - A big WHOOP! for modern technology.)

However....every now and then girlfriends just got to get together...in person!

So...a plan was hatched...

Sweet Suite Judy Blue Eyes - Heaven's New Angel

Yesterday a beautiful vibrant woman left this earth. Left her family. Left her friends. Way too soon.

I didn't know her as well as I would have liked. Time and space kept us apart.
Music and Collective Soul brought us together. And kept us connected.

This isn't the end of our song. Not a goodbye ... but a "so long, until we meet again".
I know we'll forever be joined by the soul ... soul sisters to be exact.

JUDITA MENGES

- MAYBE -

by Edgar Eugene Roland, Jr.

 

The sky now divides
To bring you back into the fold
Welcome home
Still my need to recognize
Any comfort you may show
Only grows
Guess I'll learn to accommodate
While my heart just sits and waits
Maybe God you found
Maybe is all that you can offer now
Where am I to take refuge
When the storms of pain release
Shelter me
This blessedness of life
Sometimes brings me to my knees
I call on thee
I have not the words to write
A Farewell to you tonight
Maybe God you found
Maybe is all that you can offer now
I know hearts are weeping
While your voice is now singing
On high, angel on high

 

 

What Works?

On the flip side from my last post, I read another quote recently: "Nothing will work unless you do." - Maya Angelou.

That I believe. Do you?

I whole heartedly believe in working hard to achieve a goal. Sure, it'd be great if it all came easily. Lord knows, I've prayed for easy solutions and outcomes. Because let's face it, work is hard!

We all know people who want to take the easy road. If they have to work at something, they'll do their best to find the easy work-around. Maybe they're lazy? Maybe that's what they learned growing up so it's the only way they know? Maybe the easy way worked once and they're waiting for lightening to strike again?

Let me share a story: I have a good friend who likes to enter sweepstakes. She's been pretty successful and often shares her good fortune with family and friends. Many call her "lucky". Some have been jealous. But she'd be the first person to tell you how hard she works. She doesn't depend on luck. She invests a lot of time, effort, and, yes, WORK into her hobby. And it pays off. As I believe it should. She's not firing off an entry blank here and there. She's at it day and night. Follows the rules to the letter and supports the sponsors. But her critics still claim she's "lucky". They pout and say they never win. Well, as she often replies, "You can't win if you don't enter." Which to me means, how do you expect to get anything if you don't put any effort into it?

I truly believe if you put your heart and soul into something, then you'll reap the fruits of your labor. Sometimes you might not get exactly what you want or what you hoped for but you may get what you need (see "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Jagger/Richard).

For me, the satisfying feeling of accomplishment is multiplied ten-fold when I've succeeded at something I tried really hard for. So yes, not much will work for me unless I do. It's up to me. Make it work!

As Roger Daltrey sang....."Whooo Are You"....

♪♪♪...Whoooo are you....who who...who who...Tell me whooo are you...♫♫♫

Photo Credit - Hang_In_There (Flickr)

Do your coworkers know the real you? Are you afraid to let them see your true self? Or are you such a confident secure person that you let it all hang out? Maybe you think your're doing a good job of presenting a certain face but you've learned your coworkers are not fooled at all?

Revealing question? You bet!

My Backyard - Mark Twain House; Hartford, CT

"To us, our house had a heart and a soul and eyes to see us with, and approvals and solicitudes and deep sympathies. It was of us, and we were in its confidence and lived in its grace and in the peace of its benediction." - Mark Twain

I was missing a good friend who lives in Connecticut. So I got to thinking. I should take a drive and go spend a day with her. To catch up. Commiserate. We had both battled health demons while being so overworked and involved in our jobs before losing them; hadn't seen each other or talked in a long time. Time to reconnect. I sent her a message; she invited me over and suggested visiting some local sites near her. I was immediately on board.

Few days later, early morning, I skipped the usually quicker highway route and opted instead to take the back roads to Hartford. So glad I did. It was a gorgeous warm Fall day. The sun was shining. I passed by dairy farms, little white churches and trees adorned in their fiery autumn colors. Idyllic New England countryside.

Friendship in the the 21st Century

"Winter spring summer or fall....all you got to do is call.....

and I'll be there.....you got a friend....."  James Taylor.

Let's talk friendships. In the 70's, songwriter James Taylor sang about calling a friend. Ummm, not so sure many of us do that nowadays. It's the age of texting, tweeting, facebooking (?) to reach our "friends".

And who do we consider our friends these days anyway? Are we throwing that word around too lightly? Shouldn't there be a deep profound meaning behind it? Take Facebook. We call our hundreds of connections "friends", but do they really fall into that category?

So...friendships. I'm thinking we all have some crazy ways we've met our friends. Here's mine: