A friend's face

When you're almost completely housebound, as I have been for 20 years now with ME/CFS, it's hard to make or keep friendships. I can't go places with friends. I can only handle a certain amount of conversation before I crash and need quiet time before I can talk again. I'm fortunate that three friends from my old life understand this well enough to visit with me and accept that it won't be like before. They've wanted the friendship enough to adapt and for that I feel so very grateful.

My college friend Marilyn drives over from the other side of the state twice a year and would come anytime if I had an emergency and needed her, such as when my mother died and my husband left to go take her ashes up to the Carolinas for the memorial service there and burial beside my father. She arranged ahead of time, knowing mother was dying, to take off work and come be with me during that hard alone time when I knew old friends and family were gathering at the place I wanted most to be.

Marilyn is to the far right in this shot of friends outside our dorm.




This is me during our Stetson years at Daytona, an hour from Stetson, our school. I'm to the left with the plaid shirt.




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