Alphabe Thursday - "F" Is For Friends - May 26, 2011

I've been doing so much thinking in the last few weeks.  Since my "official"
termination of employment with the city and county of San Francisco as of
April 2009, I've been quite depressed.  The massive budget cuts to the
Department of Public Health continue and it seems that worldwide, so many
people are having to make major adjustments to calamities and changes in their
lifestyles.  I look at the horrible tornadoes in Alabama and Missouri where, in
the blink of an eye, entire neighborhoods have been completely obliterated.
Japan is slowly beginning to clean up and to start the long road to recovery from
their horrible earthquake and tsunami.

When one is faced with this sort of thing, disaster, loss of income, aging, and
other myriad challenges in life, I've found that what truly matters is the vast
wealth we have that isn't deposited in a bank vault.  It is the love and support
we get from friends.  I've been reminded of that in two short but, very precious,
visits with dear nursing colleagues in less than one week's time.  Both were
such special times for me and lifted my spirits immeasurably. 

Last week, my friend and forensic mentor, was visiting in Santa Cruz and I went
down for the day.  Sherry Arndt and Sandra Goldstein, at the time I first knew
them, were the educators of most of the sexual assault nurse examiners in the
state of California.   My group from the San Francisco Rape Treatment Center
called them the "SANE mothers".  Occasionally, we referred to them as the
"insane mothers". 

I was very sad when Sherry moved back to Minnesota, fearing we would never
see each other again.  Well, we saw each other often, traveling about the world
together and meeting often at conferences

Our Santa Cruz visit last week revolved around a good bit of eating and drinking
nice wine ( what's new? ).  We headed out for lunch at a nice Mexican spot, Palapa.
It was a lovely day, a little cool but nice and sunny.

This was the view from the window beside our table.  What a lovely Bird of
Paradise!

We all ordered  a margarita, then came a variety of meal orders.  I opted for a spicy
soup and a ceviche.  Robert and Carolyn had a chili relleno platter and Sherry had 
a beautiful seafood salad.

Chili relleno platter

Seafood salad

Ceviche

Carolyn and Sherry

Robert and me

We left Palapa, moaning about being so full, we'd never be able to eat again.  Of

course, at 6PM, we were off to meet our other friend and colleague, Sandra Goldstein,

at the Crow's Nest for another hearty meal and to see the weekly sailboat races. 

What a pretty restaurant that was, with its nautical decor,situated right on the water,

by the lighthouse! 

We had a window table, perfectly situated so we could see the sailboats as they set

out for the races, though once they rounded the bend, they were no long visible to us.

It was a beautiful sight, though, watching them depart and seeing them head back in

as the sun was beginning to set!



Of course, while all that was going on, we found that we actually were hungry again

and we devoured our meals, caught up on all the goings on, and drank wonderful

California wine.

Yummy coastal artichoke with shrimp!

I think this fish was petrale sole and it was fabulous.

My prime rib, very rare, just the way I like it!

On Tuesday of this week, I had a wonderful treat in the form of a visit from

Merle Endo, another friend and forensic nurse colleague, now retired, from Hilo,

Hawaii.  I hadn't seen her in several years since Sherry and I did a cruise from

Ensenada, Mexico to Hawaii.   We were docked for a day in Hilo and Merle

picked us up at the port and took us all over her part of the island.  She is the

epitome of the "aloha spirit".  I was so thrilled to be able to spend the day here with

her in San Francisco, in the midst of her visit with relatives in the San Jose area.

I picked Merle up at the Millbrae train station at 7:30AM and our day started with
breakfast in San Francisco where we had huevos rancheros.  We then did a bit of
sightseeing and stopped here and there to indulge our mutual love of photography.

Of course, no visit to San Francisco would be complete without a drive down

Lombard Street's winding curves.  This little section, know as "the crookedest

street in the world" is always filled with tourists, driving down or walking the

steps! 

It is always so difficult to park in San Francisco.  We were so lucky to find spots,

thanks to my handicapped placard. I didn't have to use my walker very much

since we usually were very close to the spots we wanted to see.

I took Merle to this beautiful residence ( more like a mansion ) on Jackson Street.  I

discovered it several weeks ago, with a huge mass of roses and flowers in bloom.  It

was still lovely when we were there and we took dozens of pictures.  It looked like

an impressionist painting!

When we finally had enough of photographing flowers, we visited the Palace of Fine

Arts and stopped at the Presidio Lookout.  We ended our day with a brief visit at the

cable car turnaround, then headed to Pacific for a late lunch at Nick's ( I wanted

Merle to have their wonderful Dungeness crab sandwich on sourdough bread with

tomato and avocado ) with eggplant fries.  Yummy! 

I am still in a glow, from the visits with such good friends this past couple of weeks.

I need a bit of reminding about how rich I really am, in the things that really matter.

I've been trying for the past 24 hours to post the "f" Alphabe but blogger hasn't been

cooperating at all...but better late than never.

Also, I thought I would add a poem I wrote some time ago which is included in

my poetry book, "Life's Journey" - available on Amazon.com.

It is called, "Forever Friends" and, of course, my beloved friends were the inspiration.

Forever Friends

In the course of every lifetime,
There are some who come to be,
The special kind of forever friends,
Who endure for eternity.

They may come along at any time
In our youth or in later years,
Once there, they remain beside us,
Through the laughter and the tears.

They may live around the corner
Or ten thousand miles away,

But distance makes no difference,
These are friends who are here to stay.

We might see them every single day,
Or spend years too far apart,
Either way, they're always with us
For they are held within our heart.

You're cherished as a "forever friend",
And you know you'll always be,
You've helped enrich my life so much,
And you mean the world to me.

Carmen Henesy

Copyright (c) 2000 by Carmen Henesy
All rights reserved. 

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday!

Check out the site and join in the fun!