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Blogs by Velda E Brotherton
How many have gone 12/9/2008 1:56:55 PM
Christmas card list reveals friends lost I don't want this to be sad, only thoughtful and hopefully a bit inspiring. This year's Christmas card list has revealed something I hadn't really thought about. Friends who have gone on. An odd thing to contemplate during such a joyous holiday season, but there it was, nevertheless.
Friends pass for a variety of reasons, but I find as I grow older, it's losing them to age that becomes most prevalent. It reminds me to make sure and keep in touch more often. Why is it that so many of our past acquaintances, friends from our younger days, go out of our minds? We send them a card at Christmas, maybe one on their birthday, and thinking we've done all that is necessary, we forget about them the remainder of the year.
Going down my list, I see the name of a childhood friend who didn't send a card last year. She's been ill, could she have passed on and no one thought to let me know? Because, let's face it, I haven't been a part of her life, except at Christmas. She sent me a birthday card last year and I marveled that she could remember. I don't remember hers. Now I'm worried that she's no longer with us. I'll send a card anyway, surely that will remind the family to get in touch, or God willing, she'll do so herself.
And then there's the fellow who moved away years ago, and last year his wife wrote to say he has prostate cancer and has decided not to be treated, but rather to try alternative cures. Is he still carrying on? I certainly hope so. We were members of a writer's group together. His creations were special to me. And then I let our connection slip away. Address a card to he and his wife and pray he gets to read it.
Someone I met through my workshops passed away suddenly a few weeks ago, and I didn't connect the notification in the paper she wrote for with the woman I knew, until I sent her a newsletter and received a reply from her companion that she had gone and how much she already missed her. So instead of a card, there I was sending condolences.
There are all those too, who have been gone for several years now. I still miss sending them a card each year, miss them being in this world, though often our paths crossed only occasionally.
Time to think now about the living, and make sure that from now on I keep in touch on a regular basis. Drop them notes or at least an email once in a while. Stay in touch, let them know I care. For when they move on, that chance will be forever gone.
Have to go now and put stamps on my Christmas cards. Best wishes to one and all. Enjoy your holiday and remember your friends while they are still with you.
