From Diana Vance

Monroe

To the editor:

Making friends from scratch was not easy for me. I felt very alone until a gal named Mary walked through the backyard and called out “Are there any women here?” I waved to her and said “Come on over.” That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Over time I joined the Woman’s Club and I met other women and each of them had fantastic gifts to share. Carole opened my eyes to the Far East and we had many long talks as we walked together summer evenings.

Friend Patt and I have breakfast together in a restaurant while all the time having an engaging conversation. Because it is stimulating we can talk for hours and hours. Patt is also very compassionate and cares for someone in hospice. Barb showed me the benefits of an optimistic attitude and we go to lunch in really neat restaurants. Janeen and Elaine built successful businesses as artists. Elaine is a fabulous cook and made us an Easter dinner. Janeen fulfilled a dream I had and that was I wanted to go sailing. With our husbands we blissfully sailed on Lake Mendota. In a bag brought by Janeen were delicious plums, peaches and bananas.

All the while this was happening my friend Judie noticed I wanted to be a writer. One day she said “I have just the job for you.” I went to meetings like city council and with help from an editor I wrote the story the way it will appear in the paper tomorrow. This way I learned to be a journalist. Friend Kathy is my BFF and got me into exercise.

This letter is a compilation of many other friends and I salute them and thank them. In these troubled times with the COVID-19 we need to be creative to connect with each other. One coffee group went to the bandshell and sat six feet apart and had “what’s going on in my life now” conversations.