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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Wishes and Dreams

1. That my job doesn't go away until I have finished my degree!
2. Happiness for everyone in my family and all my friends.
3. To make it to Alaska (planned for this August).
4. To make it to Hawaii to make it to all 50 states!
5. To visit England to see the sites but also visit my niece, Lorrie.
6. To visit Paris.


Thats all I can think of today, I'm sure I'll add to this!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Friends along the way---last one!

Debbie W is the one I saved for last because we have a different type of friendship!

Tracey was involved in her youth group while living in OK and we met Debbie W's middle son David as a part of a group called Ongoing Ambassador's for Christ. They ended up going to the same college. One year on the weekend we brought them up for the school year, Debbie didn't have a motel room and found that there were none available so I offered her to stay with me. We ended up staying up most the night talking and laughing and forming a friendship. We never knew that this relationship would become a bigger part of both of our lives.

Debbie and I became more than friends in 2000. This is when her oldest son Bart, married Tracey. It scared Tracey and Bart a little in the beginning that their mothers were friends.

Our friendship has grown over the last 7 plus years and we have found how much we have in common as well. We still scare the kids from time to time when we start laughing about something and can't stop or laugh at things they don't think are funny, but we don't care! =)

Debbie was a true friend for me as I wanted so bad to take the cruise for my 50th birthday and asked her to go along. Doesn't seem like an unreasonable request but Debbie is afraid of water so it was a big request to ask of her. She came through from me and we had a wonderful time (except for when Debbie fell in the parking lot as we left the cruise...I was afraid her boys would never let us do anything together again!).

I look forward to our friendship to continue to grow and I value having someone as my daughter's mother-in-law that I get along with as I know that does not happen often. By being friends, we get to have holidays' with our kids together and this makes us both happy!

Friends along the way---continued.

This brings me back to Oklahoma. I moved back here in 2001 and began working with Kathy S and Jan. They both helped me adjust from working in the "life world" to the "annuity world". We were a small team so we seemed to become close quickly. What I have learned about annuities I owe to one of the two of them. Kathy even became my manager for a time period and helped me get out of my comfort zone and take on some roles I wasn't sure I could do and found that I loved them and am grateful for the opportunity. Jan and I are back on the same team now and we sit by each other and are a support system for each other. Jan has a teenager and has to put up with me reminding her how glad that I am that I am past that stage in my life, although, her daughter is a good daughter and reminds me alot of Tracey. Jan also got me to do something I never thought I would do...that was to take a cruise. I went on a cruise with Debbie W for my 50th birthday and am now planning a second one later this year!

Debbie R is another friend I have made since moving back to OK. Although we knew each other when I worked here before, we didn't become friends until the second time I was working here. We like so many of the others continue to find how much we have in common and are a support system for each other. We also both like country music and went to see Blake Shelton at the Tulsa State Fair....what a night!!! Friends are so important at work but when they also become a part of your life, they are priceless.

During both of my times living in Oklahama, I also have three friends that aren't related to the office! First is Susan and Ellen, they are daughter and mother. I worked with Susan with the youth group during my first 6 years in OK. We became friends over the years and both share a love for animals. Ellen and Susan became our "Oklahoma family" quickly. If we could not make it home for the Holiday's we always had an open invite to join them. We did for many years and they made us feel like we were a part of the family. One doesn't often have the opportunity to have a friendship with both the daughter and mother and I have two sets (Goldie/Keli and Susan/Ellen.) Susan always had "Diane's room" at her house for me when I came back to visit the four years I was back on the east coast. In fact, when I moved to the east coast, they packed my stuff up a week early and I stayed at Susan's for that week! Susan and Ellen also worked with Gail and my sister-in-law Shirley to take care of Tracey's wedding reception so I didn't have to worry about it! What a relief! Susan and Ellen also hosted a brunch the day after the wedding at Susan's so that we could see Tracey and Bart open their wedding gifts before moving to Texas.

The other one is Gail. You saw that she helped with the reception! We worked with the youth group together too. Gail helped me when I took on the role of running the Wednesday evening youth night at the church. Her son, Levi and Tracey became friends also. My best memories with Gail are the movie nights we have shared over the years, where we got together and got caught up, ate junk food and watched movies, sometimes 2 or 3 a night! Gail has just recently moved to Arkansas and I miss those movie nights, I guess I'm going to have to go over there some weekend so we can have another one.

Friends along the way-continued

Next I moved to Morrisville PA to work for a friend I knew from Johnstown who was now working in Princeton NJ. I went out there not knowing anyone but the friend who had hired me. When I came out to look around to see if I wanted to move there, he asked a girl I had worked with for years over the phone if she would mind showing me around. She agreed and we hit it off right away, her name was Dorothy. She showed me around and even took me to see her apartment, I ended up living in the same complex! I had some rough times during my time out east due to the cost of living changes, and for a time period, when my car broke down, I could not afford to fix it, Dorothy was a lifesaver during this time period. She would let me take her car on Saturday's to get groceries and run any errands and drove me to work!

During the 4 years I was back on the East Coast, there were 4 other women who helped me make it through tough times as well as helping me have some good times and good memories. The first is Marilyn. We knew each other from the Dayton office and were glad to be back working with each other. Since both of our families still were in Dayton, we use to carpool on our trips back to Dayton. This made the drive so much more bearable and saved mileage on our vehicles! My job moved from Princeton to Bridgewater and my next friend, Lorraine was my person travel agent. Any time I needed to know how to get to somewhere, she gave me directions. We also used each other as support as we took on roles in management. I learned so much about being a manager from just watching her! The third person is Linda. She is such an important person in my career life as she was an awesome mentor for me. She lives in Rhode Island and traveled down to Bridgewater every week, just for that I admired her. Her attitude was always positive and she would always be there to get me back on track should my attitude decide to go off the path! The 4th is Kim. Kim and I didn't become friends until later in my time in NJ, in fact, we became better friends after attending a week long training course in Massachusetts. These 4 women along with Dorothy helped these 4 years in my career be the most beneficial, I truly believe I became more mature in my career during my time period working with them.

Friends along the way-continued!

Next is Lori. I met her when I moved to Johnstown in 1985. She was just returning from maternity leave with her son Jason. We were close in age and over the years have learned how much we have in common. We are still in touch with each other almost on a daily basis as we both are still working for the same company! We also have tried to visit in person over the years after I left Johnstown to move to Oklahoma the first time in 1991. In fact, we are planning to do so this May, if all works out. From Feb 6 to May 16 we are the same age and every year I make sure to remind Lori of this fact, she is much nicer than me because from May 16 to Feb 6 she doesn't remind me that I am older than her...I guess she respects her elders! Can you believe its been 23 years this year Lori????

Next is Kathy B. I met her when I moved to Oklahama in 1991. She was another person that I seemed to become friends with instantly. We use to tease that some day I would become the CEO and she would become my assistant....I don't think she should wait for that position to come to her any time soon! When I left OK in 1997 to go back East, Kathy stayed in contact with me and made time to visit with me when I would be back in town for a visit. Then when I moved back in 2001, we picked up the friendship like there had not been a break in it. Although, we both are so busy sometimes we think we saw each other more when I lived on the East Coast than now!

Friends along the way-Goldie!

In my journeys with my job taking me from state to state, I have had the opportunity to make some frinedships that would not have been possible if I had not moved. I have been laughed at before because I have so many "best friends", but its true...I have them in every place that I lived!

I am putting them in order of the length of the friendship.

Goldie: Where do I begin on her? I have known her for 29 years now. I met her when Tracey was 2, my mom was getting worse with her cancer and needed me to find another babysitter for Tracey. My mom had noticed kids in Goldies backyard (2 houses down from my parents house) so we asked her and she agreed to watch Tracey. It felt like we became friends instantly. And being my friend was not easy for the next few years, I had surgery when Tracey was 3 and she helped with that, my mom passed away when Tracey was 4 and she was such an important support for me through all of that. Tracey and I even lived with them for a time period and she still remained my friend! A year later, I offered to take their son Chris for the weekend so that they could celebrate their anniversary, a few months later we were driving to my uncles house to get some green beans and potatoes from his garden when we stopped for a Pepsi, as I was getting out of the car, she told me she was pregnant, I laughed and got out of the car....Goldie didn't get out, I got back in and said..."You aren't teasing are you?". So the next March, Keli was born! They never let me take Chris for the weekend again! =)
We moved to Johnstown when Tracey was 8 and no matter how long between visits when coming to visit Goldie it seemed like we were always able to pick up our friendship like there hadn't been time between seeing each other.

I would have never made it through the years without having her to listen to me and to give advise. The neat thing is that I now am friends with Keli who is an adult.

Goldie is a true friend as when I am home in Ohio, she lets me choose where to eat so I can get to the places I love to eat in Dayton that aren't in Oklahoma!

Some day I see us sitting on the front porch and going down memory lane and wondering how time went so fast but I will also wonder how I was so lucky to get a friend like this!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Accomplishments

When telling others I thought I was too old to blog they said just think of all the accomplishments you have made in your life that should give you something to put on a blog...so here I go!

1. I am still employed by the same employer going on my 34th year! Not many can say that nowadays!
2. I was a single mother to a wonderful daughter who has grown into a wonderful woman, so I must have done something right!
3. I am going back to school for my Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. As of this Saturday, March 1st, I will have completed 60 of the 120 required to get my degree.
4. I have visited 48 of the 50 states (this summer will increase to 49, watch for more on that.)
5. I have been able to live in different states while working for my employer and have made friends along the way that will always be a part of me. (Watch for more under Friends along the way!)
6. I have created my own blog!

Am I too old to Blog?

I have found it interesting to visit Tracey and her friends blogs but always felt I was too old to do such a thing, but some people have convinced me I am not too old so I have created one just to see what I decide to do with it!

I am going to start with 4 main catagories and then see what happens after that...so watch for: Accomplishments
Friends along the way
Wishes and Dreams
Memories that make me smile.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Under Construction

Watch for more soon!