Praying For Shirley

 

 

I heard from my childhood friend (our fathers were friends before we were born, and I named my daughter ShirRae after her), and she was having part of her colon taken and spots on her liver removed yesterday.  Cancer.  How can we live 76 years, and in the end, end up with cancer?  Not fair!

So, today has been a blah day for me.  I was restless.    I thought of her all day.  I thought of our sweet memories through the years.  We have remained close, and though we might not talk for months, we begin right in where we left off last visit.  We were stuck at the hip through our teens, ran away with our partners and got married at the same time, remained close through babies and partners divorcing and dying.  So much of her history is my history.  I could give her no greater honor than to name ShirRae for her. 

Why can’t our senior years be more gentle?  Don’t we deserve better?  We have always been good women.  We valiantly stood together through the storms of being ‘fringe’ young women.  Our friendship has stood the test of time even as we grew and walked different paths.  There is something so sweet about such a friend.  I hope she feels my prayers and thoughts as she struggle’s back from the surgery.  I know how strong she is.  I, also, know how much she has missed her soulmate all these decades.  She will simply be herself and say “What Is, Is!”  And she will accept it with all the grace she has accepted so many other hard things.