This has been the best Christmas ever. My first gift this holiday season was the gift of life,my youngest son was unfortunately involved in an auto accident and came away unscathed! A drunk driver ran a red light,cut across two lanes of traffic, hit another car in front of him. He slammed on the brakes but couldn't avoid hitting both vehicles. His van is totaled,but other than soreness, he is alive and well!My second gift happened on Dec. 18th, my oldest son received his BS in Psychology from L.S.U. He is a graduate of L.S.M.S.A and worked full-time to put himself through college. I am so proud of him!
Just yesterday, I received the re-gift of friendship. After 41 years ,I was reunited with my very first girlfriend, Louise. What a blessed holiday it has been this year!
Louise and I met many years ago in Paris, France, where our fathers were stationed at NATO headquarters, while enlisted in the U. S. Army. We were best friends from 1st through 4th grade. In 4th grade, our dads were stationed in Belgium and right before Christmas, her father was sent to the Vietnam
conflict. I was devastated to lose my best friend. I remember that year asking Santa for a black baby doll for Christmas. He delivered my baby doll and I named her Louise, after my friend. I grieved the lose of our friendship. We wrote letters to each other a few times, but when your father is in the service ,we moved around allot as did she. About 2 years ago, her mother contacted my dad by phone, hoping to speak to my mom. Sadly, my mom passed away at a young age of 54 yrs. of heart disease on Jan. 7, 1988. My dad received Louise's phone number and gave her my number in 2007. I had often wondered what had happened to her and had even written to Oprah in hopes of finding my long lost friend. After speaking to her on the phone, I later learned she had been living in New Orleans, LA., and had to relocate to another state due to Hurricane Katrina. We in fact had both been living in the New Orleans area in 1992, and neither of us knew it! I moved to Missouri in 1993, while she remain there until the devastating Katrina hit New Orleans. She has been in Okla. since the storm that changed her life. I moved back to LA. in 1997 and have lived here now, for 12 years. It has been wonderful speaking to her on the phone but this past Monday, I actually was able to have her come to my home and see her once again after all these 41 years of being apart. I am so blessed to say, she is exactly like I remembered her to be. She is beautiful, kind,sweet and deeply spiritual, just as she was as a young child and the bond of friendship and love that we shared all those many years ago has not changed through all the years and miles that separated us!
If the end of 2009 is any indication of what 2010 will be like -who could ask for anything more. I am so blessed. My cup overflows! I am convinced that there are ANGELS AMONGST US!
