Make new friends but keep the old

I am in Philly this morning getting ready to board a plane for Spain to see my new granddaughter. Have sent email announcements to old friends and new, and am realizing just how many new friends I have acquired since my retirement in 2010.

Last week I met a woman who just retired and moved to my neighborhood and knew no one yet. I shared my experience: “It is like moving to a new school in third grade and standing on the blacktop at recess and looking around at all of the children and wondering, ‘Who will be my friend?’ She laughed and said, “That’s how I feel.”

You would think that as adults it would be easier to make new friends, but I think we are all insecure at heart. Dogs are a great way to meet people. Last week a neighbor phoned me from Hilton Head and asked me to meet a contractor at her home.

“Hi, Lisa. This is Mary. How are you?”

“Mary who?” I asked.

“Brodie’s mom!”

That was all I needed to hear. “Oh, Gracie’s boyfriend!”

When they came back into town, the two dogs were ecstatic to see one another and I asked Mary, “Hey do you and your husband Bill want to go out to dinner tonight?” A new friendship was born (even though I set off her alarm system, which is another story).

Neighbors are invaluable when you are away on vacation. Patti is taking out my trash, Sue is watching the house, Larry is mowing my lawn, and Joyce is watering my flowers. And I know all of their names. I am so grateful!

In Girl Scouts we used to sing, “Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”

Our golden friends since 1977 are taking us to the airport and picking us up too. Carolyn and I met in the kitchen in a rental home in Mclean, Va., shared by our boyfriends John and Ray.

We just bonded like some dogs do when they first meet. Two smiles, like two sniffs, and you just feel loved.

“Do you think you will marry Ray?” she asked.

“Yes, do you think you will marry John?”

“Yes.”

We both got married in 1979. We drove them to the airport for their honeymoon. Now we each have two married children who have each given birth to two grandchildren. We have met our children’s’ best friends at weddings. We have buried our pets and shared new ones.

Without friends we would all feel lost, don’t you think? And we never know when a new friendship will begin.

Last week I got Gracie’s leash tangled up with Ranger’s leash, and while we did the dance to untie them, neighbor Ruth and I got acquainted on ‘No hurry to go home; we are on retired time.’ We may volunteer at the thrift shop together.

Thank you to silver friends Cathy, Margie and JoAnn for taking care of our Princess Grace while we are away. Cathy said not to bring back any gifts this time. OK, I said, but I am thinking how do you repay someone who has to hold onto one end of a pink pig while a beast follows them from room to room for 10 days. Time now to spoil someone new!


Write to Lisa at lgraff1979@gmail.com.