I moved away and as with long distance friendships, we kept in touch with Christmas letters to each other. We still keep this tradition. She and one other distant friend are the only holiday cards I send. Fat letters are in both.
About four years ago, we decided to begin seeing each other instead of just relying on words. This year was no different. I made the ten hour trip to north of Scanton to Tingley Lake. This is so back in the woods that they have given themselves their own address -- 12 Cottage Lane.
This year Marcia is going through chemo for Ovarian cancer. She lost her hair because of treatments. So what do 60ish year olds do when adversity happens? We just play with it. We played with henna (semi-permanent tattoo dye) one day. Marcia wanted a flower on the side of her he
ad, but I figured I was better at copying a dragon fly from a suggested list of designs. We also each did one foot. Marcia's daughter, Nancy, also helped by doing my foo
t and I put some henna on Libby's hand. Libby is Marcia's precocious almost four year old granddaughter.We have not lost our connection with each other in the kitchen. It was amazing one night when we pulled out a summer squash casserole recipe that neither of us had made in a long time. Without talking about who was going to do wh
at, we just started in and made the whole thing in a very coordinated fashion with never a word between us.Marcia is doing really well with her treatments, no ugly symptoms. She will be seeing the oncologist this week, so all you out there, just keep her in your thoughts that her health will continue to be strong.
And for all of you, have a little fun this summer by doing the unexpected. Henna ain't just for the young people!
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