The Loss of a Friend

I lost a dear friend today. So unexpected. I’m still in shock as I know all her family and friends are. I feel the emptiness that her death leaves me with. She was a true friend, the type of friend that we could share any personal thing with the other, and we each understood.

We first met in 1992, and then in 1996 she moved to Sedona where I was living and our friendship grew closer—and then we both, at about the same time, moved back to California eight years ago, and live a few miles apart.

We emotionally supported each other through difficult times--and good times. She often worked for me reading and edited my manuscripts while in process—and did things around my office when it was difficult for me.

She loved, loved, animals and would be happy when she would see a dog or two being walked by their owner. We loved going out for Mexican food. We would cry together when we listened to Susan Boyle sing.

A couple of months ago, she had to put her dog to sleep and just two days ago, her cat. Two days before that we had talked about it being time to put the cat to sleep, something that should have been done before. You know how it is, we hang onto our pets, often much longer than we should. I told her, like my cat, Snickers who I lost last fall, her cat was also telling her it was time to go. She said she knew it was, and would do it on Saturday. She said she was also looking forward to being free. No animals to care for. My thought was that would not last long as she would probably have another before too long.

Tuesday she died. And now she is free.

Too young, with still so much love to give and life to live.

I will miss Anne so much.



Friendship

A friendship
is a special, unique state of being-
an entity readily identified
without resort to vows, spiritual or intellectual,
and without recourse to sacraments,
dispensations, or decrees...
A friendship is a private thing.

A friendship is not a casual thing-
nor, indeed, is it a thing at all:
it is an essence-a source of things-
yet more than an idea, much more
than a suggestion,
and nothing at all like an inspiration;
a friendship is simply a movement, and a meeting,
and a recognition within pure spirit.

A friendship is a romance without flesh-
a love affair with no affair-
a blending of the best that we may offer
one another:
it does not demand, it does not fulfill,
and it does not sustain the members...
But it is there, silent and unassuming,
happy and understanding, always ready
for instant use;
and it need not be fed, requires no special shelter,
and is big enough to stretch across any distance.

So, say not farewell to me, my friends:
farewell is a strange word, spoken in an alien
tongue,
and having no meaning in the framework
of the feelings we share together.

Say, instead: let’s meet again.
~Don Pendleton (1927-1995)


© Copyright 2011 Linda Pendleton

A Friendship: A Kitten And A Crow

Friendship
A friendship
is a special, unique state of being–
an entity readily identified
without resort to vows, spiritual or intellectual,
and without recourse to sacraments, dispensations, or decrees...
A friendship is a private thing.

A friendship is not a casual thing–
nor, indeed, is it a thing at all:
it is an essence–a source of things–
yet more than an idea, much more than a suggestion,
and nothing at all like an inspiration;
a friendship is simply a movement, and a meeting,
and a recognition within pure spirit.

A friendship is a romance without flesh–
a love affair with no affair–
a blending of the best that we may offer one another:
it does not demand, it does not fulfill,
and it does not sustain the members...
But it is there, silent and unassuming,
happy and understanding, always ready for instant use;
and it need not be fed, requires no special shelter,
and is big enough to stretch across any distance.

So, say not farewell to me, my friends:
farewell is a strange word, spoken in an alien tongue,
and having no meaning in the framework
of the feelings we share together.

Say, instead: let’s meet again.

~ Don Pendleton, (1927-1995) Author

© Don Pendleton

This is really incredible that a bird and a cat can bond in this way.

My thanks to Susan Gregg who posted this video on her blog and on Twitter, where I discovered it.

~Linda

Friendships

Friendships
by
Linda Pendleton

About four hundred years ago, Shakespeare said, “I am wealthy in my friends.” The dynamics of relationships, even from the child views we once had, teach us who we are. Are we lovable? Are we accepted? Do we have approval? Do we get along with others?

If we do not receive love, or fear that we may lose the love of others, we may then question our sense of self-worth. Don’t we learn early on from social and emotional experiences that love may be withdrawn based on how we behave or with the reaction of others to us?

Love comes wrapped in many packages of different sizes, shapes, forms, and intensities. There is love between parent and child, love between mates, love of family, love of friends, and love encompassing the whole of mankind. And of course, also the love of animals, or pets, which can be a very strong love bond.

I find it interesting how people come and go in our lives, and how some friendships endure time. Do you have that type of friendship where you may not see or talk with the other person often, and even months and years may pass, but the friendship does not suffer and perhaps picks up where it left off, without a skip of a beat?

Have you had friends who had an important impact on your life, and then they went out of your life? Have you learned lessons from the dynamics of friendships? Do you have friends that understand you better than family? Are friends there for you? Are you there for them?

Are you connected intuitively with a friend or friends? Do you feel you have had a relationship with a friend in another time, another place, another lifetime? Many of us do feel that way.

How wealthy are you? It does not have to be quantity. The quality of our friendships is what is so precious. Here are some thoughts on friendships.

“For in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.”
~Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

"Tis pity not to have a dog, for at the
long day's end, The man or boy will
know the joy, Of welcome from a friend.”
~Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)

“We have been friends together
In sunshine and in shade.”
~Caroline Sheridan Norton (1808-1877)

“My friends are my estate.”
~Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)


“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving

for my friends, the old and the new.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


“The most I can do for my friend is to simply be his friend.”
~Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)


“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)


“Animals are such agreeable friends—

they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.”

~George Eliot (1819-1880)


“A true friend is one soul in two bodies.”
~Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)


“A faithful friend is the medicine of life.”
~The Apocrypha, 6:16


“We’re quite a pair, my dog and me,
Friends, companions we’ll always be.”
~Linda Pendleton


“Your friend is that man who knows

all about you, and still likes you.”
~Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)


“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world,

and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)


“A true friend is the most precious of all possessions
and the one we take the least thought acquiring.”
~Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680)


Friendship

A friendship
is a special, unique state of being–
an entity readily identified
without resort to vows, spiritual or intellectual,
and without recourse to sacraments, dispensations, or decrees...
A friendship is a private thing.

A friendship is not a casual thing–
nor, indeed, is it a thing at all:
it is an essence–a source of things–
yet more than an idea, much more than a suggestion,
and nothing at all like an inspiration;
a friendship is simply a movement, and a meeting,
and a recognition within pure spirit.

A friendship is a romance without flesh–
a love affair with no affair–
a blending of the best that we may offer one another:
it does not demand, it does not fulfill,
and it does not sustain the members...
But it is there, silent and unassuming,
happy and understanding, always ready for instant use;
and it need not be fed, requires no special shelter,
and is big enough to stretch across any distance.

So, say not farewell to me, my friends:
farewell is a strange word, spoken in an alien tongue,
and having no meaning in the framework
of the feelings we share together.

Say, instead: let’s meet again.

~ Don Pendleton (1927-1995)

© Copyright 2009 by Linda Pendleton, All Rights Reserved.