Thursday, December 19, 2013
For the past seventy plus years our families have been joined. My grandmother and Mr. & Mrs. Ryder were neighbors. I have fond memories of them watching us grow up and chatting about the times and happenings. Years passed and so did my grandmother and Mr. & Mrs. Ryder.
Pat and I were fortunate to take up the ‘watch’ of the neighborhood’s comings and goings. We often spent parts of our day chatting over the fence or sitting on her porch. We shared the good, bad, and the ugly through which we both had a lot of laughs. I probably bent Pat’s ear too much, but she was always there to listen. Pat was someone I could count on when my vacuum cleaner quit and I was there when she tried to figure out her phone issues. I do wish she had asked for help more often, but she was fiercely independent for which you should be thankful.
We were true neighbors in the great sense of the word. Listener, helper, companion, cheerleader, supporter, but most of all friend. As I unpacked the car each summer, I would get a hearty wave from Pat knowing she was waiting for us to catch up on our lives and our summer chats would begin. It was a ritual I already miss.
For you the loss of her is fresh but for me the sadness has been felt since she told me of her illness in May. I have had a summer of looking at the empty porch and knowing that there wouldn’t be another chance to chat by the fence or sit in the chairs to watch the world go by. Nor would we sit on our steps watching the chaos of 4th of July fireworks.
I want to thank the Ryders and my grandmother for giving us, Pat & I, the chance to create a true friendship. “Farewell is said by the living, in life, every day. It is said with love and friendship, with the affirmation that the memories are lasting if the flesh is not.”
― R.A. Salvatore, The Legacy Thanks for the memories from generation to generation and may it continue!
