Date Night

Do you have friends you know you can count on?  I am blessed with several  friends like this.  Any time, the deepest, darkest hour of night I know I can depend on them.  You know who you are.  Today I am writing about one of these friends.....I want to write about each of them individually as they cannot be lumped together.

October 9, 2007 is a day when my world stopped spinning and I was filled with an emptiness I had never felt before.  After a week I put one foot in front of the other and headed to work.  I did my job the best I could.  I could see the pity in the eyes of my co-workers...I felt obligated to put them at ease and did my best to do that.  I spoke of Steve to help them to know it was OK to mention his name and my loss.  It is hard to know how to help a grieving friend.  I am blessed to work with kind and compassionate people, but that is not today's story.

One of Steve's favorite things to say to me was "Happy Friday" as I'd set off to work on Fridays.  Now Friday wasn't such a special day, I preferred Monday, I knew I'd be busy all week, surrounded by others and I could feel somewhat like my old self for periods of time.  Friday loomed like an troll under the bridge, stretching into Saturday and Sunday.  Weekends were never so long.

Enter Sarah, next door neighbor, dear friend.  The Murphy and Whitmarsh homes were interchangeable as home to our collection of 5 children.  The first Friday after Steve died and I was back to work Sarah called and invited me to a movie at my favorite theater, Scotia Cinema.  From that Friday forward for 2 + years Friday was "date night" for Sarah and I.  Nothing interfered, she always came through.  We'd each have our bucket of popcorn and diet Pepsi......life was good for that 2 hours. A stability in an otherwise out of kilter world I now lived in.  Does she know how wonderful that time was for me?  I've told her but I don't believe she really knows the enormity of her act.  I will never forget these special nights and I treasure the memories in my heart.  On our first "date" the movie playing at Scotia Cinema was "Death at a Funeral"......we didn't even know what was playing.  When we arrived we looked at each other, shrugged and went in.  The movie was hysterical and I laughed and laughed, perhaps manically at times but laughter truly is wonderful medicine beaten only by dear, dear friends.

As I already mentioned I am blessed with many amazing friends.  Believe it or not I could not find a picture of Sarah to post!  How can that be?  So to Sarah, my Friday night date, my weekend Savior....thank you from the deepest crevice of my heart.  You cannot even guess how much our "date nights" helped heal a shattered, fragile heart.  I salute you my friend.

Day 10 of 365.

Be a friend.....K