The blessing of good friends

This weekend we spent with our best friends, Greg and Mona. We had dinner together on Friday night, breakfast Saturday morning, and then dinner again on Saturday night. Three meals in 24 hours and we're not spending the weekend away somewhere. We're right here in town, staying in our respective homes. Greg and Mona are very busy people socially. I don't mean to make this sound like they have this big social calendar, however they own three different homes, with friends at each location. Most weekends are spent away at either their home in the mountains or their house on the coast in Mendocino. We are always invited to come, however because we have two teenagers who have their own social lifes, we most times are unable to go. So, when they are in town on the weekends we like to spent some part of it together.

I met Greg and Mona when I first moved to No. CA to live with Dan. Dan is a dentist and soon after opening his practice he met Greg who owns a dental lab. Greg is an amazing man. What makes him amazing is that he is truly an artist. He has a gift for playing the piano and for a while tried to make his living as a musician. However, the realities of the world soon became evident to him and he decided to open his own dental lab. The crowns and bridges he creates are true works of art and over the years he has grown his business and has become very successful. After first meeting and getting to know Greg, Dan would stop by his lab after work where they would go to a small house behind the lab where Greg kept his piano. Greg would play the piano while Dan just sat back and enjoyed. I'll never forget Dan coming home one day and telling me about Greg and his musical talents. He insisted that I meet Greg soon. He also told me the most heart wrenching story about his wife Mona and their newborn son. When Mona was in labor with her son soon problems developed. The nurses tried paging her doctor, but he didn't respond to the pages. Mona labored for hours without intervention from her doctor. The baby monitor started showing signs of frank distress in her baby, doctors were summoned and she was immediately taken for an emergency cesarean section. Her newborn son was born with out a heartbeat and he was not breathing either. They resuscitated him, but not before there was some brain damage. This, however, was not the end of their story. Mona was still in distress. They ended up transporting them to another city where a major university medical center was located. It turned out that she had a tumor on her parathyroid which resulted in her calcium levels to be way out of wack which is a life threatening situation. Poor Greg found himself having to deal with a critically ill newborn son and a wife who was fighting for her life. The happy ending to the story is that Mona responded well to her treatment and her son, while having some permanent brain damage which has resulted in some learning difficulties, is doing very well. He graduated high school, found his passion in the martial arts, and now is a successful owner of a martial arts business. Of course, at the time no one knew how things were going to turn out for their son.

I honestly don't remember when I actually first met Mona. So much of my memory during the first year in my new home town is fuzzy. I was a registered nurse back then and was working the night shift. I had been working the night shift for many years and the lack of sleep was really getting to me. But I do remember my first impression of her. She is one of the kindest people that I have ever met. There was such a sweetness about her demeanor and she instantly made me feel like I was a long time friend. Our close friendship really took years to develop. She was busy with her young children, while I still had none, and was busy getting my master's degree in psychology. Our times together were sporatic and infrequent. Dan and Greg were the ones that kept in more steady contact. In spite of the spottiness of our contact, whenever we did get together we always had the best of times and we regularly referred to each other as "family." By the time her sons (she had another son 4 years later) were grown and on their own, I was busy raising my young ones. When I started my doctoral program in psychology our contact become even more scarce as I only had time for my kids and school work. But once I finished my dissertation I was so ready to have a social life again, that Mona was one of the first people I reconnected with. Since that time we have become actively involved in each others lives and her friendship is one of the most important relationships in my life. She is my soul sister. We share the same values and beliefs. When I have a problem I can always count on her to be there to listen and give such insightful advise. She is so self depricating and fails to see how gifted she is in so many areas. Her passion is her horses (after her husband and sons). She has created the most amazing stables and riding facilities at her home. Any question you have about horses, she can answer, and if she can't she'll have an answer for you soon thereafter. She's a wonderful cook and hostess. Whenever we go over there for dinner or parties, I know that I'm going to have the best time. She's better than Martha Stewart, because she's sweet. She's a commando shopper and helped so much when I needed direction in redecorating my house. She's the one I call when I need help with gardening. She is also the modern day version of Florence Nightengale. She has this uncanny nack of finding people who are deathly ill and providing them with care. Unfortunately she has lost some of her friends to death, but in the end she really made their last days so much more comfortable. She really is an angel here on earth and I feel so fortunate to have her as my friend.