Gratitude Day 404

Tues., Feb. 11, 2020

Philippians 4:1: My dear brothers and sisters, I love you and want to see you. You bring me joy and make me proud of you, so stand strong in the Lord as I have told you.

This photo reflects a highlight from last week. One that brings me joy whenever I look at it.

While all of us would have preferred a different reason to bring us all together, for a short period of time, these long-time friends spent moments together.

I have a fortunate woman. I have valued friends from different aspects of my life.

These gal-pals represent my undergraduate college years. I knew none of them before I stepped foot on the University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus. Yet, in the four years that I was a student, these truly became some of my best gal-pals.

When Alice Steiner passed away a little over a week ago, we all quickly decided to attend the visitation to support our dear friends, Barb and Janet. Alice was their Mom.  

I became acquainted with these ladies because we were all in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Many of us lived together. We hung out together and have thousands of memories that we still laugh about. Some of those memories do not need repeating here.

These days, our gatherings are not as frequent, usually for dinner or a long lunch. It’s difficult to get us all together. These days, we have a variety of careers. While these roles are important to us, they aren’t the only things that define us. We support our families, participate in our communities and churches, champion causes important to us and encourage each other to live our dreams as well as explore things that will stretch us.

While these are not my blood sisters, they are sisters in many, many ways. As I look at this group of ladies, I am so proud to call them my friends. When we are together, we share things that are personal and yet important in our lives. After knowing each other for 30+ years (Yikes!), it’s easy to move into conversations that are deep, meaningful and special.

We have brought joy to each other’s lives. We are proud for our individual accomplishments. We are strong in supporting each other and yet know when to bring in re-enforcements.

The time together flew by and unfortunately, I didn’t get to have as many conversations as I would have liked. I pray that they know that I love them and want to see them again soon. Thanks for being my friend, ladies!

For special gal-pal friends, I am grateful. They are back row l to r: Lisa, Borzy, Tracy, Jayne and Janet; front row: me, Rhonda, Marie, Janice and Barb.

Blessings –

Dianne

Holy God – Thank you for giving us a wonderful example of community even within the Trinity. Thank you for teaching us how important it is to have friends who love you and care deeply for you. I pray we encourage and support those people who are special brothers and sisters in our lives. Amen.

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