It is another rainy day in Carbondale, Illinois!
We have had our share of rain over the past few months.
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The fenced in, portion of our yard, that the four legged members of our family use for their, multiple, daily constitutionals…is a swamp!
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Mary Jane and I went for our, Mall Walk. It was nice and calm and sedate.
Mary Jane had a lovely email from her, lifelong friend, Margo. The proposal of visiting with them in the fall is exciting to us both!
My buddies, Ron and Ira Kaye, have asked us to take a trip with them…and we are looking forward to it…in the spring!
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I literally think of my friends, Ryan and Elizabeth…every day. They are two wonderful people who have been so nice to us…and who we care about their success and wellbeing, very much!
Saturday evening, we had dinner at a, wonderful, Mexican restaurant with our friends, Joan and Jim. They are both retired professors, and they are so interesting and engaging! We talk politics and movies and books and food…and Maine…which is our mutual love!
After the flood lights of career have dimmed and the accolades of workplace accomplishments have grown silent…friends loom extremely bright!
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I often said to my, good friend, the fallen chancellor…that it is a gift to have someone who cares about you!
We encounter and interact with many people during the course of our lives.
We, often, have hundreds or thousands of friends on social media.
But, as the old folks used to say, ‘when you shell down the corn’, you may have only a handful of people who are your, true, friends!
I witnessed, several, true friends in action when Mary Jane was recovering from her spinal surgery.. Many people, from our church, brought meals to us and stayed to visit with us and I felt more love and concern from a church family…than I had ever felt…and I have been a member of several churches over 50 years!
All of us feel a bit alone in the world.
We see the world through our eyes and the impulses of our brains…and for the majority of our existence we live in our own heads.
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That is why friends are so refreshing to us! They show us how others see the world and how they see us.
Friends, assure, us that we are not on the road of life by ourselves!
Most of us experience sickness in our life…at one time or another. There is not a more lonely feeling than to be sick…or have a loved one who is ill…and it seems that no one cares or understands.
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A hidden illness is mental illness…of which a majority of humanity experiences at some point during their life. It can take a variety of forms and the most debilitating component of it is to not have anyone to talk with you about it or help you through the ordeal…or who has, genuine, empathy for your life’s walk.
It has always been a mystery to me how a person can have cancer or heart disease or diabetes…and there is not, implied, stigma…but mental illness is kept in the closet with the door closed and securely locked?
Do we realize that our brain is housed in the same body that our gallbladder and pancreas and liver and lungs and heart….are housed in?
My mom took sleeping pills…and attempted to commit suicide…and I saw my dad carry her….with her night gown flowing….and he was weeping…pass my bedroom door…and I was five years old.
Let us be friends to one another!
The Happy Traveler 