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This is Georgia. She's my sweetie. In my whole adult life, Georgia is my most long term, consistent "in real life" best friend. In this picture, she looks a lot like Dharma's best friend, Jane and yes, there's some of Jane in her. She's loving and she's wise and she's so much fun. Everyone should have a Georgia in their life... in all their lives. She's the one that even if you never do call her in the middle of the night to come rescue you, you could and she would. She's the one they wrote the following for: "A good friend will bring you bail money when you're in jail. A great friend will be sitting in the cell beside you saying, "Wow. That was awesome." She listens when I need her to listen, tells me when I'm screwed up in the head and takes my side no matter what (even when she's telling me that I'm screwed up in the head for being on that side). In all the years we have been friends, I have never once felt Georgia distance herself from me in any way for even a second or felt any wavering in her absolute support of me as a friend. She does all of that without ever being needy or intrusive. She is the perfect friend and I do not say that lightly. I love her dearly. She is moving away. Technically, I moved away first. She's now an hour and a half from me, but that's still visiting range. Now she's moving to Washington, sometime next week. House is sold and packed up, life here is being taped up and packed away and she's moving bravely into a new world. I am so happy for her. She is the kind of person who is going to do well no matter where she is or what she's doing. She could be in cell block 8 and in a week's time, she'd have everyone whipped into shape and doing her bidding, inmates and prison staff alike. I will miss her immensely. Sure, she's still online, but it's just not the same. She'd better get a job that lets her keep AIM running all day, that's all I've got to say. I've said goodbye to a lot of people in my life. It mostly started when I left home at 16 in 1978. I flew to Guam to be with my new husband, Paul. Several people were at the airport and I went down the line, saying goodbye. It was harder than I imagined. After that, I spent pretty much 22 years as a military wife. I had a few years of single parenthood in there, but since I was moving all over the place during that time, it was very similar. When you're in the military, people come into and go out of your life as a matter of course. You expect that all relationships are terminal and in the back of your mind, you adjust your affections accordingly. Sure, every time you leave a base or on the other end of the stick, your friends leave, you hug and say you'll keep in touch and you mean it, but it usually ends up with the same results as when you leave High School or College and swear you'll always be there for one another. Some times you are; most times you aren't. In all that time, I've gotten pretty good at letting people go. Some are harder than others, but I have found that overall, letting go is a challenge, but it is wise if that's where life is taking you. I've dragged out many friendships far past the point where it was obvious that our time together was done, just because I knew I would miss them if they were gone. Having zombie friendships that died a long time ago but are still walking around is a hard way to go.
A long while back,
I found this and then haven't seen it since.
If it's yours, thanks for the wisdom it has
given:
People come into your life for a reason, a
season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which
one it is, you will know what to do for each
person. When someone is in your
life for a REASON. . . It is usually to meet a
need you have expressed. They have come to
assist you through a difficulty, to provide you
with guidance and support, to aid you
physically, emotionally, or spiritually. They
may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are
there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any
wrongdoing on your part, or at an inconvenient
time, this person will say or do something to
bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up
and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need
has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work
is done. The prayer you sent up has been
answered. And now it is time to move on. Some people come into
your life for a SEASON. Because your turn has
come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an
experience of peace, or make you laugh. They may
teach you something you have never done. They
usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season. LIFETIME relationships
teach you lifetime lessons; things you must
build upon in order to have a solid emotional
foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson,
love the person, and put what you have learned
to use in all other relationships and areas of
your life. It is said that love is blind but
friendship is clairvoyant. As it says, the trick is finding out who
is who. Georgia is definitely a lifetime
friend. Another good one is: Life is like a cattle
drive. You start out from your point of origin
with a working team. Some will leave along the
way and others will join. When you get to your
destination, there will those who have endured
the whole trip, some who have joined you along
the way for the long haul and others who join,
give their all, then part ways. No one
contribution is greater or lesser than the
others and all work together to further the
cause. Similarly, we have friends that join us
for a season, some that join us for a reason and
others that join us for a lifetime. Whatever
contribution they make to us and we to them is
to be cherished and when/if the time comes to
part, we release them with love. So yeah, I've done some
releasing in my time. I miss the vast
majority of them. There have been several times
I've made a staunch effort to reconnect with
people I loved from the past and almost
invariably, it has been a wonderful reconnect,
then promptly settled back into the oblivion
where it was before we reconnected. It was
as though a ghost came out, walked around, and
then settled back into its grave once again.
It's like the movie/book, Pet Sematary.
You can bury something and then try to raise it
from the dead, but when it comes back, although
it might look like what you buried, a little
worse for the wear, perhaps, it's really just a
whole different beast. I'm sure there are
times that it's better, but that isn't usually
the case, from what I've seen. With all of that behind
me, I have gotten better at trusting when I'm
being shown that it's time to let go. I'm
grateful for all of the wonderful "in real life"
people I have known in my life. I've been
friends and sometimes "best friends" with some
really amazing, special people. I miss
them all and I cherish the memories I made with
them. Georgia represents the
last of my nonCoven friends (and she started out
as a Coven friend) that I see "recreationally."
For now, it's the close of a part of my life
until new friends come along. I can feel
change hanging heavy in the air and I welcome
it, despite the sacrifices it asks of me.
What kind of hypocrite am I if I trust God and
Goddess in all things... until it comes to
something I don't like, then I fight it to
death? Nope, I have to accept this too as
being for the greatest good and let it go with
peace and love. I'll miss her but I feel
as though I will see her again. She won't
just fade away like so many others and we'll be
e-mailing like mad. Since I moved, we
haven't seen a lot of each other, so not much
will change in that respect. Even when we
lived 20 minutes from one another, we still
burned up the e-mail and messaging programs.
So no, I know I won't "lose" her; the chances of
movies and pedicures and lunches is what's faded
away. :) Change happens. We
adjust and accept and expect the very, very
best. This move is good for
Georgia and I can accept that and I do expect
the very, very best for both of us. But lordy, I'll miss her. We had a very wonderful
"see you later" lunch today. I managed to
keep it to just tearing up and not actually
going the distance with the big ploppy, sobby
stuff. It was tough, but I made it
through. Be happy, Georgia.
You're still my beeznatch. Katrina
by John Lennon & Paul
McCartney
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June
22, 2004
There
are places I remember
