Memoirs: The Story of Friendship (1)

I am still unpacking, rewiring, hanging, installing, lifting and organizing, and really don't have time to do anything else until I'm settled...but I felt this was a little story that must be told. I hope you take a couple of minutes out of your busy days to read it, because it will remind you of what is truly important in all the craziness life swings our way.

So, we were having our estate sale, and many of my mom's deepest and most meaningful memories come from a few small things. One of these things is, of course, her wedding dress. The dress ended up in the sale (I don't remember how because none of us actually put it in there, but somehow it was there). On the day before the sale was over, my sister did a walk through and made me a list of the things she didn't want to let go for cheaper prices on the last day. One of the things was our mother's dress. My job was to take the list to the estate sale planner and let her know what to set aside. I took my mom and dad to the old house for one last walk through to see if they wanted anything from the sale, before we sold it or donated it. When I handed the lady the list of "keepers," she read it out loud and when she came to the wedding dress, she said, "Oh honey, we sold that today!" My mom started to cry. I was so sad for her, but there was just nothing I could do to make it better. I took her back to the new house and she just cried on my shoulder about the dress. I tried to cheer her up by telling her she got ME out of the deal which was much better than anything else, but she was still feeling the loss so strongly. I think it must have represented our family more than anything else, especially now that we'd just sold and moved out of our family home of almost 40 years. Later that afternoon I told my sister how upset Mom was, and we even considered somehow trying to track down the buyer, but realized that was impossible now. At 10:31PM I got a text from my sister. I remember the exact time because I thought it was quite late and was worried something might be wrong. This is what the text said, "So that LW friend of ours bought Mom's wedding dress because she knew we would want it, and thought she'd keep it for us just in case. Can you believe her?" Yes, my sister's best friend since high school just knew. We have been through so much with the dear, dear W family. So much that we feel we've pretty much merged as one family. But that LW. She's come through time and time again for us and I just don't know how we got so amazingly lucky. I wonder how The Universe squeezed that much beauty, kindness, and awareness into one little bitty body? Don't you? So this note is to remind me every time I read it how dear friendship is, and how it truly makes any situation, no matter how desperate feeling, all better. One seemingly very very tiny tiny act on one person's behalf spreads out and changes the world, each time it is remembered, with its light. Love Love LOVE the LW and the Sister for nurturing such a special friendship so beautifully.

#advice #family #friend #humanity #kindness #love #universe #30s