Today is my best friend’s
birthday and 50 years ago I attended her Sweet Sixteen. It is hard to believe
that 50 years have gone by but the mirror tells a different story.
I am sure there are other Fifty
Year Friendships but few have the unusual twist that ours has. Ninette and I
met in high school while my father was transferred by Burns Foods to Montreal
to trouble-shoot at the plant there. We were only there for 9 months (July to
March). Ninette and I only knew each other for 7 of those months, sharing the
same home room and art class. But she sat across the aisle from me and we
smiled at each other and that was it. We would have lunch together with some
other friends but Ninette and I shared a sense of humour that could make us
laugh at the most peculiar stories. She is a wonderful storyteller and I would
listen to her enthralled by her tales. I would repeat some of my father’s
hilarious anecdotes (past and present) which had her in stitches.
Then we got the news that we were
being transferred back to Winnipeg and Ninette gave me her address so I could
write to her. Which I did. A letter from her quickly followed. We have shared nearly
50 years of correspondence most of which happened on a weekly or bi-monthly
basis. Seldom did two weeks pass without a letter, in all these years. And that
is what is amazing. We have been through thick and thin, travels abroad,
children, illness, anxiety, job loss, family woes, business crises, you name it
and we have been through it. But never, ever has there been a cross word, a
misunderstanding or anything of a negative nature that could have jeopardized
this friendship.
Truly God smiled down on us the
day we smiled at each other.
My cup runneth over in gratitude
and love for this lovely, charming woman who is my FRIEND.
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