Saying goodbye to dear friends...

Today began the farewells to many of the dear friends that I have made over the years of living here in southeast Pennsylvania and vacationing at our summer place in northern Maryland just off the Chesapeake Bay.  It is one of the saddest and most frightening part of making this move across the country.

Shelia Williamson came over around 10:30 AM and we drove down to Indian Acres together.  I had to double back when I realized, shortly after starting, that I had left a bag on the kitchen counter.  So, we started out a second time.  Took one route down and a different one home.  But it was fun to travel the roads I have not traveled in several years since selling my property at Indian Acres.

We pulled in just behind Mary Alice Carroll.  M A and I had met at Indian Acres and she and I had started the Flaming Roses of the Red Hat Society from friends at Indian Acres.  And the bright red hats and purple outfits made the entire group hard to miss.  It was a really fun thing that we did over many, many years of having weekends and vacations spent at Indian Acres.  She and I managed to get into some fun and interesting situations during those years.  I could always plan on some unexpected occurrences when the two of us were out on an adventure.  M A's late husband, Billy was also a dear friend of my late husband, Rudy, so we usually found ourselves together at some point on any given weekend.

As we headed to the door, Lovedy Berkley pulled in on her golf cart.  Lovedy was one of the original Red Hat Ladies in our group.  She was also part of the Glen 8 (Indian Acres) parties that Rudy and I would host during the year.  Lovedy founded a Red Hat chapter in her home area and many times her group and the Indian Acres group would have joint meetings where we ate and laughed and just had fun.  She and her husband, Emory were active in the Methodist Church and would often work at the delicious Roast Beef dinners at the church.  Yum.

Waiting in Sharon's trailer was Janet Flower.  Janet was also an active member in the Methodist Church in the area.  She and her husband, Ron, also lived at Indian Acres at the time (5 years ago they moved to Dover, DE to a lovely retirement neighborhood.).  Janet was an avid quilter.  She was also an original Red Hat member.  She was willing to do anything the chapter needed and I was hoping that she would teach me something about quilting... and... boy, did she.

Janet's best friend, Mary Davis, was also waiting at Sharon's trailer.  Mary had sucked Janet into the quilting additction that happens when a sewer gets her hands on fabric that she can cut into many pieces and sew them into beautiful designs.  But, in return, Janet brought Mary into the Red Hat fold.  Mary had been quiet for the first couple of years (she was a recent widow at the time) but over time, Mary had opened up and included me in her quilting life and we found we had mutual interests.

As Janet and Mary and I had gone to a couple of retreats and gotten into sewing and crafting more, we invited Sharon DeRicco (now DiNardo) to come to learn how to do some basic sewing and make table runners and then pillowcases.  I guess she enjoyed it and we began to have regular Friday night craft events where we learned to do little projects, getting more and more detailed and complicated.  Sharon had always said that she could probably not do anything.  But as she found she could, she began tackling more and more projects on her own until she was doing quilts and projects that none of the rest of us had tried.  It was a joy to watch her grow in her newly found skills.

Debby Patton, who arrived at the party after a two hour drive to make the hour trip, had been a part of a Red Hat group in Pennsylvania.  They had come to a couple of our craft days and luncheons.  We invited her to join our group and she did.  In time, she would come to Indian Acres with me to spend a weekend away from family and work stresses and drama.  She also watched as the Friday Night Craft/Sewing sessions started... stating that she could never do that.  Finally, she decided to come down and give the sewing thing a try.  She brought fabric to make 3 table runners.  She thought that she could not make them... and if she did... it would take her the entire weekend.  Before Saturday was finished, she had used all of her fabric and needed to go shopping for much more fabric.  She is a natural sewer, great with color selections and creative when she sets her mind to do that.

Sheila Williamson is a member of my church.  She was the voice on the phone to invite me to GriefShare at the Parkesburg Mennonite Church and gave me a huge bear hug when I appeared at the meeting.  I was drawn to the church by the feeling of family among the members and it was something I desperately needed.  Getting to know Sheila, I realized that she would make an excellent addition to the sewing/quilting friends who were now going to a quilting sewing retreat at least once a year.

And, so these were my dearest friends who had come into my circle as either Crazy Red Hat Ladies or fun loving crafting/sewing/quilting friends.  We had traveled together on bus trips, enjoyed craft days at the Club House at Indian Acres or had gone to quilting retreats in Lancaster County, PA, Black Mountain, NC or to the Outer Banks... sharing a house for a week of rest and relaxation as well as wonderful food, drink and creativity.

Today we shared stories, memories.  We hared laughter and tears.  We have been through wonderful times and incredibly sad times.  We know the love of beautiful friends and I am sure that we will be able to keep in touch even though there will be several 1,000s of miles between them and where I am going.

Thank you, ladies, from the bottom of my heart, for a lovely day that is only adding to the many memories that I have of all of you.