GIRLFRIENDS ARE THE BEST

When I moved from Casa Grande to Peoria, after living there for 20 years, I was desperately lonely. I prayed and prayed that I may meet a new friend, someone that I could relate to.

Prayers are answered, lo and behold, I was blessed X2 after meeting these AWESOME GIRLFRIENDS, Connie Mitton and Pam Prine. This pic is from a trip we took in the spring of last year ('08). We went to Arrowhead or Top of The World, L.A., California to see the coming of the Daffodils. Memories...create some with your Girlfriends!

My sweet, sweet friend Wendy Howe. Truly one of the most gracious, kind, beautiful young women I have ever had the privilege of calling "my girlfriend." She has a wonderful husband and 5 of the most beautiful children you have ever set eyes on. "Love ya Wende!" Golden WHEEL Retreat. Deer Valley, Utah. We played games, watched movies, ate ourselves into coma like state (we had a private chef), played Left, Right, Center, went on a ZIP LINE down the mountain - YIKES!, went shopping, laughed, talked, cried, talked...you get the picture. These women are so amazing. Love ya Golden WHEEL Girlfriends!

Toni Chase, Molly Ashton, Wende Howe, JoAnna Yoder. I met these women through my involvement with the Golden WHEEL Organization. THEY ARE A KICK TO SAY THE LEAST! If you wan to know more about Golden WHEEL you can log on to http://www.goldenwheelorganization.com/ Sue, Mom, Debbie Fleming and myself having one of the most delicious and memorable meals of our lives at the Waterford Castle in Ireland. We stayed there a couple of nights and it was a real treat. We had to take our car over to the castle on a ferry, it was surrounded by a mote, wild deer running around, the fireplaces were so big we could walk into the fire box, claw foot tubs, leaded glass windows, black crows cawing in the trees...
Our trip to Ireland and Scotland. They didn't know what hit them! We had never been there before, bought a map, rented a car, never drove on the left side of the road before, and we were off to explore for a month. Was it courage or stupidity? I don't know, but we sure had fun, blew off some steam, made many memories, and came home better for it.

"GET YOURSELF SOME GIRLFRIENDS"

I've been thinking so much these days about marriage, husband/wife relationships, how or what it has taken to keep our marriage together these past 38 years. I know for this for SURE...with all the demands that a marriage put on me, as a woman, wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, I would have not survived those years, with any sanity, had it not been for my "Girlfriends"!

Thanks to all of you who have ever brought in a meal, cleaned my toilet, bathed my children, diapered my children, babysat, listened to me whine, helped with baby showers, wedding showers, let me cry on your shoulder, bought me lunch, invited me to the movies, told me to "suck it up", cleaned my home, helped with funerals, prayed with me, etc.. The list could go on for pages. My "girlfriends" are precious treasure to me. A simple thank you will never be adequate enough...you know who you are...love you lots.

I want to share with you this story that I have kept in my files for years and years . One of my favorites to say the least. I've handed it out at bridal showers, baby showers, tucked it in notes to new brides, sent it off with girls headed for college, women's club meetings, church meetings, and even when I though someone just needed a little pick-me-up. Hope you enjoy.

"GET YOURSELF SOME GIRLFRIENDS"

Young and newly married, I relaxed under a pecan tree on a hot Texas summer day, drinking cool lemonade, and getting to know my new sister-in law, Estelle. Not much older than I, but already the mother of three, Estelle seemed to me wise and experienced. "Get yourself some girlfriends," she advised, clinking the ice cubes in her glass. "You are going to need girlfriends. Go places with them, do things with them."

What a funny piece of advice, I thought. Hadn't I just gotten married? Hadn't I just joined the couple-world? I was a married woman, for goodness sake, not a young girl who needed girlfriends. But, I listened to this new sister-in-law. I got myself some girlfriends.

As the years tumbled by, one after another, gradually I came to understand that Estelle knew what she was talking about. I remembered that she had said the word "girlfriends" with emphasis. As I went along, I discovered the subtle difference between friends and girlfriends. You go to work with friends, go to dinner with friends, go to church with friends, belong to clubs with friends. You send friends greeting cards. You need friends in your life; all girlfriends were once only friends. But a girlfriend is different.

I offer this praise of girlfriends. Here is what I know about girlfriends:

Girlfriends don't compete. Girlfriends bring casseroles and scrub your bathroom when you are sick. Girlfriends keep your children, and keep your secrets. Girlfriends give advice when you ask for it. Sometimes you take it, sometimes you don't Girlfriends don't always tell you that you're right, but they're always honest. Girlfriends still love you, even when they don't agree with your choices. Girlfriends might send you a birthday card, but they might not. It does not matter in the least. Girlfriends laugh with you and don't need canned jokes to start the laughter. Girlfriends don't talk about you behind your back. Girlfriends pull you out of jams. Girlfriends don't keep a calendar that lets them know who hosted the other last. Girlfriends will give a party for your son or daughter when they get married or have a baby in whichever order that comes! And girlfriends are there for you, in an instant and truly, when the hard times come.

Girlfriends listen when you lose a job or a husband. Girlfriends listen when your children break your heart. Girlfriends listen when your parents' minds and bodies fail. My girlfriends bless my life. Once we were young, with no idea of the incredible joys or the incredible sorrows that lay ahead. Nor did we know how much we would need each other. I want to tell younger women to take my sister-in-law's advise. Get yourself some girlfriends. You are going to need them.

All I can add to this is, "Amen and Amen." Jane, 38 years into it and a little wiser for it.

A TRIBUTE TO MY "GIRLFRIENDS"

Tami (Smith) Zimmerman, Shawna (Smith) Hobson, Mary Smith, and me.

Smiths have been dear friends since the kids were all in gradeschool. We have shared MANY wonderful times as families, as friends, as GIRLFRIENDS.

*****

HATS OFF TO YOU my dear friends, my beloved girlfriends...to those of you who have stabilized me through the years, helped me keep my sanity, and celebrate the fact that being a woman is indeed wonderful...IF ya got yourself some GIRLFRIENDS!

Baby showers and bridal showers have been given by the dozens through the years.
Evie, Punkin' (my dear friend Punkin', movie goer, travel friend, YaYa Sister, hard workin, go to breakfast, laugh and giggle, ALWAYS there for ya friend - Love ya) and Timber.

This shower was given for Tiffany Anderson, twin to Timber, daughters of Punkin'.

PS: Tiffany had a sweet baby girl, Georgia Dae Noel Anderson -

spitting image of her grandmother Punkin'. What a doll!

Connie Merrell and Me fishing at Wolverine Creek, Alaska!

Ya, we let the BIG one get away!
Doing design work with my dear friend Tere Riggs...
one of the most naturally talented women I know. The lady is Amazing!

GIRLFRIENDS - THEY CAN BE AGES BIRTH TO 100+!
Mom 79 years - Avery 5 years
Connie Merrell and Tere Riggs have been dear girlfriends of mine for over 30 years.
We raised our children together, family vacations together, BBQs, played cards endlessly (we didn't have money to go anywhere or do anything so it was a weekend ritual), babysat for each other, talked on the phone while we were doing dishes, etc. etc. etc.
Long, long time ago 13 friends started a "Cookie Exchange" where we baked 12 dozen cookies (all the same kind) and attended a nice brunch given by one of the group. That was, I'm trying to remember, about 26-27 years ago now. We still meet on the first Saturday of December and spend hours catching up on each other's lives. Our dear friend Lynette Jensen, one of the original 13 ladies, moved to New Jersey. Jamie Morton, also one of the original 13 has moved to Idaho. Tere Riggs now lives in Chandler and I, of course, moved to Goodyear. Tere and I still make the trip down to Casa Grande to attend and occasionally we will get a visit from Jamie Morton. Lynette will always be in attendance - in our hearts. At times one of us will call her while baking cookies or call her up during the cookie exchange. We miss her!
Of course, Grandmas and Grandaughters can be "Girlfriends."
This was taken at Cody and Candi's wedding.
Jamie Morton, me at center, and Connie Merrell.
Jamie Morton inspired me to try quilting. She has won international quilting competitions and has a quilt that hangs in the Museum of Folk Art History in New York. She is a phenomenal textile artist.
Here are some of the YaYa Girlfriends in Maui, Hawaii. Dad was ill this particular year and Sue and I were not able to go on our annual "Fun in the Sun" trip. Can't tell you how much I love these ladies. I tell them, "I love ya more than my luggage." And, that is allot!!!
Places we have visited: Cabo San Lucas(this has become one of my favorite spots), New Orleans, Washington D.C., New York City, California, Hawaii, Alaska, for a few.
Two dear friends, Debbie Fleming and Carolyn Hardison - girlfriends for over 40 years! YIKES!
We went to grade school, high school, college together.
Carolyn and I married best friends. Ron and Leon Hardison also went to grade school, high school, and college together. Carolyn and Leon set Ron and me up on our first date...a blind date. The rest is history.
Debbie was and still is Mom and Dad's third daughter, just one of the family. She was in our home as much as her own as we grew up. There is a certain comfort and ease to be around friends that have known you for that long, grown up in the same neighborhood, made your way through puberty together, helped each other through the heartbreak of boyfriends!

THANKS FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR ME GIRLFRIENDS!

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

Some days it seems like a lifetime, some days we say to our selves, "Where did the years go?"As you will see in the following pictures, the years have changed us soooooo much.

THE EARLY PICS WILL BE VERY ENTERTAINING.

We were engaged in Nov.(just before Thanksgiving of 1970 and Married on Feb. 12, 1971.

Note the short skirt and he looks a bit like Barney Fife, don't you think? 133lbs. Him, not me!
This pic was taken at his graduation from the Highway Patrol (DPS) Academy. He gave me a engagement ring later that evening.

Write up in the West Valley View - which is deliveredat our doorstep still to this day! MERCY!

Cold Sores,A HUGE BOUQUET, more than 350 guests, myFather in tears,...I walked down the aisle and married this hunk of a boy...I mean man. He was going on 25, I had just turned 18.

No example for your teenagers or our grandchildren. We told our boys they couldn't get married until they were at least as old as their Dad was and I think they made it.

Here he is hard at work writing tickets to the likes ofMario Andretti, the chauffeur of Marie Osmond, foreign diplomats, and sweet grey haired grandmothers that hadn'tdone a thing to anyone!

Taken a couple of years after we married at the wedding of Tom and Julene Hollenbach.

We introduced them.

Cy about 4 months, Cody 21 months, Martin just turned 4 a few days earlier, Dad was at work, as usual, and Mom was going crazy! (Ladies - Living proof - been there, done that.) There is life after diapers, laundry, part time jobs, picking up toys,wiping noses and butts, and a husband's career! Hang in there Moms they do get older and you will celebrate the first time

your family goes to the zoo without a stroller and diaper bag or the day every child is in school ALL DAY LONG!

But, enjoy them while you can for they are gone before you know it. These are precious times and the days scatter like feathers in the wind.

NOW BEAR WITH ME - REMEMBER

WHEN I SAID MY BLOG WAS TO BE A

SCRAPBOOK OF SORTS. WELL ...

THESE PICS ARE JUST THAT.

Fishin in Alaska

GAMMY AND PAPA WITH GRANDKIDS IN TEXAS

MAUI,HAWAII

SKIING WITH GOOD FRIENDS CONNIE AND BILL MITTON

HIKING GLACIERS IN ALASKA

EXIT GLACIER, SEWARD, AK

2003

"ALL BECAUSE TWO PEOPLE FELL IN LOVE."

"OUR LITTLE GRAND-DUCKLINGS!" Aren't they cute?

L to Rt. - Martin's Family

Grace 4, Luke 4, Martin, Jennifer, Caleb 6

L to Rt. Cody's Family

Liam 3, Cody, Candi, Avery 5, Emrie 2 wks

L to Rt. Cy's Family

Janell, Wyatt 6 months, Cy

BOY THE SUN WAS BRIGHT! WE COULDN'T OPEN OUR EYES!

Martin (AKA - "MO", Cy (AKA - "Virus"), Mom (AKA -"Puddin"),

Dad (AKA -"Pooter" obvious reasons, Cody,(AKA - "Colton" or "Tody")

What a hectic morning it had been. The day after Thanksgiving

Martin and his family were in from Texas. Just finished serving breakfast, preparing food to go to the Carmichael Thanksgiving dinner later that morning. I had a baby shower to go to after pictures and before the family dinner, kids were running all over, screaming, chasing each other, one shoe on, one shoe off. I hadn't even decided what to wear. My jeans were way too tight - Thanksgiving, etc. I was feeling a bit edgy! Ron looked at me and asked, "What am I suppose to wear." Boy, you can imagine the look I gave him. "Anything brown!", I snapped. Poor guy

he generally gets the brunt of all my stress and just keeps comin' back for more.

He is a good husband.

Yes, in 38 years things have changed a bit. We knoweach other's every move. We know when to stay out of each other's way. We know when to lend a helping hand or to walk a wide path around the other's fit! We know when the other might just need a hug or some time to themselves. In 38 years you just sense each other's needs.

It is my prayer that we make it another thirty and we can go to our maker within

minutes of each other. I would hate to face the world without him.

We are so grateful for our 3 sons and the fine men they are. We love their wives and are grateful for the wonderful Mothers they are. As you can tell, we are so proud of our 7 grandchildren and we love them all so very much. They are the frosting, so to speak, on our lives!

THIRTY EIGHT YEARS - HEADED FOR SIXTY EIGHT!

She Misses Her Valentine!

This is my Mother, Velma Nadine Hedges, who will turn 80 years old this year. She and my Father, Halton Leonard Hedges, were married 53 years. FIFTY THREE YEARS! That is a lifetime for many. My father passed away on Feb. 6th, 2004 leaving his Valentine behind and she misses him. I took Mom to the Cemetery today to place flowers at Dad's grave site. She looked so weary and sad and when I asked what was wrong, she simply said, "I miss your Father."
Mom has been ill and struggling from the effects of 3 massive strokes and open heart surgery among other illnesses for nearly 15 years now. And...she is tired! We were advised 2 weeks ago to bring "Hospice" in to help with Mom's health care at home. (Hence not much time to do posting on our Blog.) She is blessed to have the means and the supportive family to see that she is properly cared for at home. That is where she wants to be and we pray that is where she will be able to stay until she goes to meet her Valentine.
Let this be a reminder to us all...we that may take our Valentine's for granted. Maybe we think they will always be around. But, one day we may wake up and have them taken by a heart attack or an accident. So, grab your Valentines...young, old, short, tall, cranky, sweet, skinny, chubby, ages 0 to 99, and tell them how much you love them.
RON AND I CELEBRATE OUR 38th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY THIS WEEK! I WANT HIM TO KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM AND APPRECIATE THE GOOD MAN, HUSBAND, FATHER, AND GRANDFATHER HE IS. Ron is also very kind, gentle, and helpful to my Mother and for that I thank him and will be eternally grateful.