A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Proverbs 27:9
This year, for the first time, selecting our annual, college sorority reunion date revolved around medical issues. Except for our wheelchair-bound friend Diana, the other five of us have been relatively healthy…until, that is, this year when Cathy could not join us because of a serious stomach diagnosis and Keller had to take it easy since she had just been released from I.C.U.
Needless to say, much of our four-day conversations were about health. We found ourselves taking pictures of each other’s medications, just in case we might succumb to our friends’ maladies. Other gab sessions concerned our techniques for eliminating wrinkles, sunspots, hair loss and creaky knees. In the end, we agreed on one thing: we were blessed every day we woke up able to breathe, move and talk, knowing that many did not have that fate.
What I love about this group is our lack of maturity. This picture shows the five of us at our Dolly Parton bash. We spent the day in our Dolly wigs, singing and dancing to the legend’s songs.
Notice the glasses we are holding, each with our caricatures and names inscribed. Etched under that is this: “No one will ever be as entertained by us as us.” We think we are funny.
We play dominoes with a $5 kitty, and this year, Diana added “Family Feud,” only we were on our own—no “family.” Di was the narrator but refused to tell us the year her card game was made, so our 2026 answers failed to meet her (apparent) 1996 edition. (Seriously, “Elvis” instead of “Dolly”?)
This year, Keller took us down Memory Lane with a video she created of the past 20 years we have vacationed together. Set to music, we were shocked to see how young (and skinny) we once were. We watched the video three times, asking ourselves, “What happened?”
Pictures of grandchildren were passed around the table, each with a story of accomplishment or goofiness. In spite of all the laughter we share, we are a prayer team for each other. There are narratives of in-law battles, sibling rivalries, children choices, husband frustrations, neighbor nightmares, financial concerns and, of course, health problems. We are not short on prayer requests.
Six personalities, all willing to overlook the annoying idiosyncrasies we all have, thankful that we all pitch in to help cook and clean, that we all choose to be unselfish and yield to each other rather than have our way. Have we had disagreements? You betcha. None of us is guilty of having no opinion. We will not discuss politics and respect each other’s religious viewpoints. We allow healthy discourse on topics such as Covid injections and childhood vaccinations while honoring Romans 12:10: Honor one another above yourselves.
If you are blessed with this kind of friendship, the kind that refreshes the soul and endures, you know that it is a gift from God. It is to be cherished.
Patty A. LaRoche