Sunday, June 8, 2008

Good Friends= Blessings

Here They Are
Mike and Nancy arrived Saturday morning, well almost noon. They have come to see family and friends in Oklahoma all the way from Georgia! Riding his motorcycle, his tricycle. Mike is a retired police officer from Enid (we worked together and have some good stories). Nancy works in the school system with the handicapped children. (I think that is right, don't quote me on that!) Mike and Nancy have been married for one year this past May. I met her for the first time last June when they rode the bike to Enid and stayed with us for about a week.
Mike was married to Becky before Nancy. She was a teacher he met on the Internet from North Carolina. They were married for about five years, he married her and moved there soon as he retired from the PD in Enid. Becky and I had become very close friends, visited as often as we could. Then she developed cancer in the lungs (never smoked) and liver(never drank) and passed away very quickly. It was hard on Mike after finding a person that loved him as much as he loved her. I have not seen Mike as happy as he was with Becky. We all made fun of him finding love on the Internet, but they really seemed to make it work. They had the blended family, the exes to deal with and Mike had moved away from home by a lot of miles (I don't know how many...alot!) When Becky got sick it was just devastating. When she died, I felt a part of my soul was ripped out and stomped on. This was the first death I had dealt with of a close friend, one of two more to come within the year. Well Mike is not one to be alone. He searched for love again on the Internet. He found Nancy. I was not happy. I thought it was too soon, he needed to grieve longer. I told him so. And he told me he had already been grieving, the months that Becky was sick he grieved knowing he was going to lose her. They talked about it, and made plans for his life. He wanted/needed to move on. I was not ready for it. But he was bringing Nancy to the house and was staying with us. In just a few weeks. Oh my. I told him, Mike, this is going to be hard, I might cry and I might even call her by the wrong name.... I won't mean to, but it might happen. He said, Lisa, it's OK. I really love her and you will to. (I doubt it!) But OK. The moment I met her, we hugged. It was warm, it was sincere and she was WONDERFUL. From moment one!!!! I fell in love with her too. How did he get so lucky to find love twice? On the Internet, and with such good people? How did he do it? Nancy and I are great friends. Two peas in a pod. We are so similar and our birthdays are two days apart. We are both Taurus, that is why we get along so well! She is such a blessing to Mike's life AND mine!
We played dominoes last night. She said she didn't know how? I think it was a ploy. Mike showed her a couple times then asked her if she wanted him to help her...NO. We played till late into the night and the girls lost by only 6 points I think. Mike counted the points but I kept the scores. I think I should have done better with the math on the paper, we should not have lost. What was I thinking?
Mike loves his bike and has put a lot of miles on it. However this is the last journey for him and Nancy. He says it is just too hard on his back. They rode a lot of miles, the wind was TERRIBLE and the heat was pretty bad too. Last year same thing happened. They got caught in rain on the way back and was miserable. So he fixed the bike up into a trike, enjoys it, but will keep it for short trips and shows maybe.
They packed their bags this morning around six, came in for a cup of coffee, loaded everything up, and left. Heading to Missouri to the Bass Pro Shop and to stop off and see another retired officer that is chief in a little town. Then they will drive through Kentucky to head home to Georgia. Where they are lacking in rain, have way too much heat, but are ready to get home where the remodel is suppose to be done on their home. We are going hopefully in Oct.
Good friends=Blessings.

7 comments:

Marge said...

Isn't that the truth? Good friends are blessings. I spied a good friend in the back row after church this morning, a friend I hadn't seen since her mom's death from a brain tumor, three years ago. Do you think that was just a coincidence that she was there today? I think not! Yea, good friends are blessings!

And may God bless your coming week. Marge

Marge said...

I just watched the weather and saw storms heading your way again! Is there no end to this? Be safe!

Marge

Kristen said...

Good friends make for the best of times, don't they?

Love that bike. My hubby wants one, but I say later when the kids are grown!

Mental P Mama said...

What a great story, and I know Becky has blessed it all.

Debbie said...

I'm glad an emotional beginning turned out so wonderful! I love the bike, even tho I'm not a bike person LOL! It would be fun, except for worrying about the weather! I wish I could afford to go to the lake and ride the jet ski all day! Ahhhhhhh!

Michelle said...

Friends are the best. I loved spending time with my friend of 32 years this weekend. Although we did not actually get to spend much time together. The other friend, Lori came from Washington and her daughter, Mallory, came in from LA where she goes to school. It was so great to see our daughter re-connecting after not seeing each other since 1999. They bonded so well and are now on each others MySpace and plan to keep in touch. Friends!!!

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Good friends are such a blessing - we sometimes take that blessing for granted.