MARY AND JANET

Birthdays and Christmas are times you find out what is up with old friends. You know you are there for each other all the time, but you don't stop to touch base until a special occasion arises.

Many of my best friends are deceased. They died at very young ages and sometimes I feel like they died because they were friends with me -- like I was a jinx of some sort. Of course I know better than that but sometimes don't we all believe the universe reacts to our tiny speck of it?

I still have Mary and Janet as my friends the longest time. Mary was my best friend from college and lives in Texas. Janet was my best friend from elementary and junior high school and lives in Colorado.

Janet called first and since we don't talk often, I actually asked, "Whose calling?" Thankfully she laughed. We had a nice visit and I also received a beautiful card from her in the mail.

Mary called last night (as she does every year on my birthday) and Ron answered the phone. First that shocked her because he never answers the phone. When he does, he gets off the line as fast as he can, so he mumbled something to Mary and came outside to get me. Mary wanted to know if he was alright because he sounded out of breath. I told her he doesn't like to talk on the phone and she laughed and then she asked, "Are you outside playing basketball?" WHAT?

Ron had told her I was playing ball with the dog but she did not understand him and thought he said I was playing basketball. I asked her to hold that mental picture for the rest of our lives. "A vision of me," I said, " at age 62, outside playing basketball."