The Blessing of Friends….

This has been a week from Hell.  But it’s now Sunday, and an appropriate day to give thanks.  Perhaps every day is the same, but I’m getting it in because friends need to know how much they mean to me. Even one who is annoyed at me right now.  I will come back to my old self soon. Just give me a little time, darlin’.

All these are writer friends for some reason.  They have been friends for a year to many, many years.  One is a musician and my oldest friend.  Most of them show up on this blog, either with comments or smack on the blog face.  I couldn’t write this damn blog without their support.  Or their friendship.

MaryMargaret (shia) is my rock.  Her heart is enormous, her counsel steadfast and good, and I wake most mornings with her email telling me to get up and shake a leg.  She offers up much for  the souls in purgatory, being a good Catholic, and she makes me laugh.  I have such a fine friend in Mary.  I can’t remember what life was like before her.  We have spent lots of money on phone calls, but we try to curb that right now because of economics….When the economy recovers we will be burning up the lines again.

If Mary is my rock, Nick is my staff.  Nick has been a heavy writing influence in my life.  He has been a constant for over 2.5 years, and we both have grown in this time as writers.  Nick is also a fabulous musician, and produced “Angel Factory”, composed all by him and all instruments played by him.  It is one of my very favorite cds and I am going to about wear it out, but he promises to send me another.

Angie is half my age, with twice my sense. She is another rock and a real Southern woman…notice I didn’t write ‘lady’.  She has too much energy and vigor and she’s a fighter.  Once she crashes on vampires, I think she will be the new Faulkner.  Angie is one of the most generous writers I know…always pushing me towards publishing, always getting me opinions and resources.

Phil is a very special friend. If Mary is my rock, Phil is my mountain…Snowdon comes to mind.  His voice is hypnotic but he knows that. He calls me frequently from Wales and a day hearing his beautiful voice can change the course of events. He’s pissy  at me right now with  some  reason.  I’ll return to my old self soon, Phil…you know how I am.  Your friendship is precious, and your advice is golden.  We’ll get back to normal..well, as normal as we get.

Rose is my long winded friend, but she is also one that is like a littermate. She has guided my writing, actually likes my poetry! and has been there at the worse of times.  I think we have the same mother…in fact I know we do.  Rose I love so much that sometimes it hurts.  She is just a bit (lol!) younger than I, but she is more like the older sister I never had.  And she is an incredible writer.  She understands everything.

Bill is another mountain, and one of the funniest men I know.  “A Seasoning of Lust” would not be on this earth without his hard work.  He stands ready to do Volume II this fall, but he’s also right now writing a blockbuster: “Mortal Turpitude” and it’s a page turner.  Bill and Nick are two of the strongest writing influences in my life.  He dragged me into eroticrits , our private writing group, just Nick , Bill and I , and it’s a oasis at times for me.

Katie Troutman I adore.  I formed “Not Dead Yet”, our main writing group because I wanted to get close to her and learn her tricks. Katie has become an incredible friend and confident.  She is an incredible artist, too, doing amazing paintings on gourds and furniture.  Katie has walked through Hell with me and I will walk through Hell with her.  Come to think of it, every person I mention here has done so.  We try to support each other, and they have all taught me more about loyalty and friendship than anything else in my life.

Jerry is a particularly dear friend, of over 40 years in the making. I’ve written about him here before, and that he still tolerates me after all these years speaks of a deep love. That is clear.  Jerry is also one of the finest studio musicians around.  He can play anything including goat hair.

Ox is the Rabbi of our group. We get our religion and big doses of the Torah from him. We also get commonsense, love and good cheer.  He has been writing “Oxnotes” for a year now…maybe longer, and we await his special distillation of his particular Jewish wisdom. Ox worries us when the bombs fall or explode because he is in a particular part of the world that violence is a daily trial. Must worse than Detroit.  Ox also is very dear to my heart because he writes much multicultural stories….and is a cheerleader for decency in erotica.  Ox, you are a decent man.  We are are devoted to you.

Brady is our comedian. He is also a devoted friend.  We tease him about adjusting his meds, and he recently had a knee removed, or maybe it was a testicle, we get mixed up.  He is very generous with his meds….and we are not picky.  A very sentimental man who has personally taught me something about faith.  I should listen more, Brady.

Susan is our resident tart! She is courageous in her writing and adventurous in her life.  We live through Susan’s exploits.  Susan is  writing an incredible journal of the last year, and it’s a pot boiler.  Excellent writer who we grabbed when she first appeared on the scene. A new, but very charming friend.  She’s a keeper.

Margie!  Margie isn’t in any writing group, but she’s a fine writer. She also my cousin through almost marriage.  I’ve known Margie for many years and I love her dearly.

I almost forgot my best friend: my husband, Fred.  For 24 years he has shown himself to be the kindest and calmest man I have ever known. People who know us well wonder if we ever fight..We kind of do, but it doesn’t seem to effect us much.  Perhaps we have short attention spans:

“Silent night, holy night, oh look! a froggie! Can I have a cookie? And why is France so far away?”

That about sums up our attention to slights.  Where others are mountains, Fred is the lump in the bed, the encompassing warmth that soothes me to sleep, the sharp toenails that rake my ankles…oh! wait, that’s his complaint. But all in all, I am very blessed to be married to such a sexy guy.  And a best friend as a husband is golden.

Tonight I love all the above dearly, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get pissy.  We just know when to kiss and make up.  I guess we have held hands and hearts and we know life throws curves.  We got our backs.

There are other friends, but the pill I took for my shoulder is kicking in, it starts with Hydro something and I am getting goofy.  I’ll have to ask Brady our resident pusher what it is…but it works!

I am so blessed to know these people and to hear their voices periodically, mostly in loving terms, but also yelling at me when I most need it.  But that is the way of love and friendship and as I said,

I am deeply blessed.  And I am now going to sleep.

Lady Nyo

Tags: friends, Great Blessings, love and endurance, Not Dead Yet