FRIENDS Who Come By for a Visit

 Doorbell rings.

I open to see a great friend...

There's DOROTHY HUNTINGTON.

We had a great visit and she was off, but oh how fun, to have her visit.

And, I am grateful.

FRIENDS to do Things With...

 We go out for drives, or out to eat, camping or to a movie (rare in the last year!)

But, it's so great to have some friends that we can just text and say, Let's GO!

When my parents lived in Pocatello, Idaho, they had a core group of friends.  They had a study group.  My mother had a couple of clubs she belonged to.  It was so fun for them and so fulfilling.  They had solid friends and people to share their lives with.

Then they moved to Salt Lake.  Everything changed for them.  My mother never felt comfortable in the ward.  My father had no one to call and /or to hang out with.  They did not have couple friends.  My father once told me somewhat ruefully, "Every year some of the members go to St George to enjoy the sunshine there.  But, we have never been invited."  That just broke my heart as I could hear and feel the loneliness and feel the pain of "BEING LEFT OUT."

It's so hard to move when you get older.  For them it was nearly devastating.  My mother had no one.  My father had no one.  And, they were very lonely.  They, who had been at the center of a world in Pocatello, were thrust into a lonely world of retirement and being at home.  

It hurts me when I think of them and of their situation.

Because I feel so blessed to have some good friends to do things with.

And, I am very grateful.

Thankful Memes