Tuesday, December 31, 2013
A lifelong friendship that started 48 years ago, in New Jersey, when Arlene spotted me walking in the rain, with 2 toddlers to help them overcome their fear of thunder. She asked "who is that crazy lady out there?" The response was that's the new neighbor across the street. That was 18oo shared cups of coffee ago. That's what best friends do, drink coffee while solving all the problems of maintaining a home, marriage and raising children. We have cried thousands of tears together and laughed until we wet ourselves more times then I can count. When I got divorced and had to work, my best friend took care of my 3 children and refused to take anything in return. When tragedy struck and I lost my 3 year old daughter, Arlene saw the accident site and ran across the highway to get to the vehicle which held my ex-husband and daughters and she rode in the ambulance trying to comfort both little girls. The loss nearly crippled both of us and we leaned on each other to try to heal. I cherish memories of Arlene studying for hours in her living room, with much younger students to become a nurse and how she seemed to grow 2 inches in height after she received her nursing cap, While our children were in grammar school, Arlene decided that 2 other lifelong friends and myself should be in the PTA and SHE volunteered all of us to be on the board. That school has not recuperated, to this day from our presence on that PTA board. We organized over 400 parents to attend a School Board meeting to get a traffic light in front of the school so the children could cross safely. Our PTA president, Arlene, was told that they would consider it but the PTA board let them know that we were going to shut the school down unless they put the light in and made safety alterations to the playground area. Well Cheesequake Elementary got a new traffic light and playground changes within the week! Another memory, on my 30th birthday while I was in my home, Arlene was in her home, organizing a huge bunch of neighborhood children to be in a birthday parade. They marched down the street with Arlene carrying a birthday cake, while banging on pots with spoons and carrying a banner "Happy Birthday Lorraine 30 ,. She told me that she wanted to make sure that my children and everyone knew that I was truly 30, not the 24 that I had conditioned by children to believe was my age. The memory of Arlene, after her divorce, forcing me to go with her to Florida, on her first plane ride to help her find and buy a home within days will never leave me. Maybe it is because of the severe pain I suffered because of Arlene's nails being embedded in my forearm for the entire flight. Arlene loved Florida and living by the water(a must). With my son living in Florida, my best friend living in Florida and my daughter moving with her family to the sunshine state, I decided to make the big move. Years passed and both Arlene and I had gone through a lot of frogs before we found our princes, but we finally found the happiness and contentment we were searching for. Arlene has said many, many times to me that I'm so lucky to have Lyod, he is wonderful and I have been blessed to see why she felt this way about this man. It is because he always put her wants and desires before his own. From the beginning of their relationship to the very last day, Loyd remained by her side, her friend her confident, her loyal companion. No wonder Loyd and I get along so well.......I would like to think that we both shared these qualities with Arlene and I was blessed to do it for 48 years. I look forward to the day that when I think about Arlene, it will be without a tears in my eyes but a smile reflecting on those wonderful times that God gave us together.
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