Old Friends

When I say "old friends" I don't mean friends of long-standing, but friends much older than I. I guess it's because after losing mama almost 30 years ago, I've always longed for a surrogate mother. Two of my old friends have since passed away: one was the mom of a former good friend, the other a blood relation. We'd occasionally call each other to ask about something or other, or simply to talk. The mom of the former good friend once confided to me that she slid in the bathroom but asked me to promise I wouldn't tell her daughter. I gave her my promise after she reassured me she was all right. My aunt, why, we talked about annoying relatives or anything that mattered, like problems, politics, anything. But like I said earlier, they have died.

Now the two old friends I have are the wife of a teacher and the mom of another good friend. The latter I get to talk with when she answers my calls to her daughter, but these are rare occasions. When I send her something, she always calls to say thank you. The wife of the teacher, we're phone pals. She says "we're on the same wavelength" which is often true. Our friendship began when as head of the parents group of the organization her husband headed, I'd always invite her when the group had a special lunch. It came to a point that she'd call me up sometimes, or I, she. Months back, when I had an issue with the school, she was very sympathetic and understood where I was coming from. Though my son is no longer directly connected with the organization, our friendship has continued. Like me, she's at home alone a lot, so I guess she's lonely. This morning, she was so amused when I told her how we made paper boats over ten years ago when the garage was flooded and had them sail away for my son to enjoy. Why did I even bring it up? A few days ago, our garage was flooded and that leads to my next blog.