It takes a long time to grow an old friend

Cathy -- in navy over gold

The subject line above has been in my head for the past few days, ever since a special package arrived in the mail from my best friend. It contained that subject line, written in the "50 years" anniversary card pictured below (marriage crossed out and overwritten with friendship), with a hand-written letter, and 38 typed pages of letters from our past, a labour of love on Cathy's part.

Cathy and I met in Plenty, Saskatchewan, on the first day of Grade One, September 1, 1971, which means that we have known each other for 50 years as of today. The package of typed letters she sent is a perfect tribute to our friendship as it has developed over the years, containing hints of how we developed into the soulmates we are now. I am so proud of who she is! And who I am. We have grown into pretty amazing women, and have supported each other through many challenges along the way.

It's amazing to me that our friendship exists at all. We barely knew each other for three years before I left small town Saskatchewan for Edmonton in October of 1974, and if it wasn't for Cathy's grandparents living in Old Glenora here in the city and her family's regular visits to them, our friendship would have ended before it really began. It's impossible to express what our connection has meant to me, except to say that I am deeply grateful for Cathy's presence throughout my life. 

Me - in gold over navy

Our heartstrings are tied together in so many places and events in our lives, beginning with the Saskatchewan prairie that was etched into our souls in our formative years, and more recently, in exploring the beauty of Vancouver Island where she now lives. Our trip to Taize together five years ago is one of the highlights of my life, and I can't walk Shadow-dog past the Edmonton Folk Fest hill without remembering a magical day with her there.

We grew up living parallel lives in many ways (seen even here in our reversed Grade One school picture clothes!), sensitive young girls who felt as if we were on the fringes of our classmates' social groups, blossoming in our own ways in our university years, involved with Camps for people with disabilities, and growing into our spiritual selves. 

We saw our first Edmonton Oilers game together, cheered each other on through university and the establishment of nursing and teaching careers, and consoled each other through broken romances and challenging work situations. For all but 5 years when we lived in the same place (and enjoyed an Opera subscription together), letters and emails have been the mainstay in our friendship, though Cathy has also made long trips to Edmonton for weddings, baptisms, first communions, confirmations, graduations and a surprise housewarming!

With 1,296 km between our two homes, we don't get together often, but even covid has carried a gift for us in its hands. Cathy leads an online early Saturday morning 5Rhythms dance/meditation group, and Zoom has allowed me to enjoy dancing with her and a dozen of her friends most weekends, feeling the connection between body and spirit -- and the friendship connection.

When we celebrated 40 years as friends, we daydreamed about going to Milan's Amphitheatre to see Giuseppe Verdi's Aida (with real live elephants!) for our 50th anniversary, but here we are in this covid and climate change conflicted world, not wanting to make either situation worse by a frivolous celebration. So we will mark our 50 years of friendship quietly with those 1,296 km between us... perhaps with a glass of wine together via Zoom. 

Because really, every time we connect, read each others' letters, or chat on the phone, it feels like a celebration to me!

Happy 50th Anniversary of Friendship, Cathy! And yes, a letter is in the mail!

A L'Arche Quarantune

I love this version of Coco Love Alcorn's song!
Looking forward to the day that I can reconnect with my L'Arche friends!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_pARR9_QDE

Creative connections

It's still early in this time of Covid-19, and things will get worse before they get better. But I have to say that, so far, I'm really impressed with the many creative ways that people are coping with this crisis. Besides being invited to socially-distanced walks with neighbours, I've been on the receiving end of several other fun initiatives to keep spirits up... mostly online: games of Trivial Pursuit and dice (I won 40 cents that will never be collected!), a yoga class, meditative evening prayer from Taizé, and a wine and cheese phone call with a high school chum.

But the most amazing thing so far was a re-connection with a large group of friends, many of whom I haven't seen in over 30 years. I traveled for a year as as a student member of an Up With People cast of 130+ people in a musical, educational and cultural program which focused on peace, love and friendship among nations. We performed in the U.S., Canada, and more than a half-dozen countries in Europe, while participating in community involvement activities at schools, senior centres, and social agencies. Living with a large group like that, I made a few lifelong friends, but keeping up with everyone was impossible. Back in the 80's, all we had was snail mail, and long distance phone calls were pricey, especially overseas!

But communication now is another story altogether. On Saturday morning, my friend Allie, who subscribes to an online conferencing service, invited as many castmates as she could to join her in an online video gathering. By the end of the meeting, 2 screens worth of about 40 friends from 7 different countries connected (some for over 4 hours). Everyone agreed that it was pretty great to see people we hadn't seen since we did our final show at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. on July 4, 1988.

At first, our online gathering was chaos, everyone trying to get a word in edgewise, but then Andrew decided we should all take turns updating each other about our lives, and that worked really well. Our lives have taken many twists and turns, and it seems we're all in different stages of self-isolation because of the corona virus, but are finding all sorts of different ways to stay connected with the people we love.

If the human race learns anything from this pandemic, I hope it's a deeper appreciation of the things we've been taking for granted, and that who we are and how we love one another is what's most important.

Here's a beautiful little video about how one poet sees that the coronavirus is helping us to reframe our lives... Thanks, Nora, for sharing it with me! Be well, all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgm9E_cmvWA