Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Girlfriends........


Today I had to attend a funeral.......I hate funerals!!!
It was celebrating the life of a friend of ours, John, I had worked with his wife for over 20 years. We all became friends attending the obligatory Christmas parties and assorted company events. When I first began working at "the office" they invited my husband and I to their home for dinner, and were wonderful and gracious. It was the beginning of a long and true friendship.
It was a typical Catholic Mass celebration at the church where he was baptized and where he and his wife had married in 1976. As difficult as it was to celebrate his life and the end of his life, and seeing his wife, children and other family members in pain. As funerals do often times, it brings people together. In this case it was a group of us girls who worked together in the same office on and off for more than 20 years.
We all were able to sit together for lunch after the service and enjoys some laughs together like old times. We all had been together for so long we experienced pregnancies, raising our children, the birth of a few grandchildren and even some losses together.
We had worked in an office that at the most at one time had about 16 employees. It was a high stress, long hours kind of business. And the most men we ever had in the office at one time was 3...typically they couldn't hang around for long. But us women did, and we bonded....sure we all had ups and downs...mood swings, jealousy issues...it wasn't all rainbows and kisses. At times there were some not speaking to others. But the one thing we all knew and still know to this day is that we got each others back. I could call anyone of these ladies for anything and without a doubt they would come thru. And I would do the same for them...anytime...anywhere.
I have never really been part of the "girlfriends" thing. There is no one that I talk to everyday other than my husband and daughters. I don't really share private moments with anyone other than family.
But today I learned that I have "girlfriends" if that is what you want to call them.....but to me it is much more....they are my support system, and I hope that they consider me a part of theirs.
Today was a sad day, but it was also a very special day.

4 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

So sorry for the loss of your friend! To all things a season...
I am glad you have come to the realization that your circle of friends are so much more. We all need a support system at one time or another.

Unknown said...

Having retired, moved to another state, and now back for a visit, I'm finding out how valuable and fun my friends really are.

Prayers for your friend as she grieves the loss of her husband

Anonymous said...

sorry to hear about your friend... friend really do mean so much. what would we do without them? and family too of course...

how did you get your blog lookin so fancy?? it looks amazing! did you do this all by yourself? i tried to change our template and i totally screwed everything up. i'd mostly want to do it for our realworkingwomen.blogspot.com one... but i'm retarded.

hope all is well - and once again, the blog looks great!!

Anonymous said...

I don't consider my self to have a lot of "girlfriends" either. Don't know if that is good or bad. Glad they were there for you, though.