This morning as I sat here drinking my coffee I let my mind drift to a time where I never dreamed or thought of "Cancer".. Not like today where that is all that seems to consume my mind..   So this morning was different.. I sat here letting my mind drift to a time where I met someone who became a very important part of my life.. I never dreamed one day I would sit at at table drinking coffee and thinking back 49 yrs... In 49 yrs there has been so many people that have come into my life but when you meet someone  who one day you look back  and smile at all the years you have known each other and all the miles that have passed in both of your lives and you are still together you know this person will forever hold the title of "FRIEND"!! I remember a few years ago she changed this title to Sister and I totally agreed.. No matter what has gone on in our life we have always been there for one another.. Sometimes in person, sometimes in a phone call, or sometimes with distance between us.. I have always said I know a lot of people but I have only known one true friend who has been in my life since I was 14.. In a time when we thought life was pretty good.. I started to realize there was a pattern going on between us when things in our lives starting happening and we were there for one another...   Divorces (my parents), marriages (she got married & so did I to best friends)..  I remember when I was 19 my father got sicker and on a day in October he took his last breath only to go home and get a phone call from her telling me her brother had just taken his last breath from a car accident.. I remember 2 days later leaving my fathers viewing an going to her brothers viewing.. How shocked her family was that I was there knowing my own father passed, but see this is how friends work, they want to be together when the sun is shinning & also when the storms are coming.. I remember it was her time to come to me when 5 months later my mom passed away from cancer... When our children came (we were both blessed with one daughter), when our jobs came that would support us as we raised our daughters, when our marriages starting taking a turn from "being married to being not married!" Her's ended first.. I remember how hard it started to become harder with me still married to her ex's best friend but we hung on.. We never forgot one another and life went on.. Then my marriage ended.. We also went through funerals of her daughter's dad years later & then my daughter's dad.. She had cancer (today cancer free), she also went back to church & found life with God worked out better then life without him...  Our friendship continued.. I remember calling her and telling her I accepted the Lord in my heart & so did my daughter.. Her relief that I was going to heaven one day also..There were times in life when I needed her and she needed me.. We laughed, we cried, and we went on through out life. I remember when she told me she was leaving to move a few states away and take a corporate job..  I remember being sad but not wanting to tell her I was going to miss her horribly... She moved and her daughter followed her.. We didn't forget each other for one bit..She was the first one i let know when my soul mate asked me to marry him and we did... I opened up my house to her on Thanksgiving and she sometimes brought her mom here and sometimes she took the dinner to them.. I was there for her when she had to put her parents in a nursing home and I did what she would of did if she lived here.. I would go visit them... I treated her parents as if they were mine  and she didn't mind.. I listen to her dad's story's and couldn't wait to go home and tell my hubby all the places they traveled to. I remember the funerals for both of her parents.. I always hoped she wouldn't know the pain of having no parents Like I knew when I was 19 and lost mine.. Today she has the pain... I remember the day I had to tell her I had Ovarian Cancer.. She felt my pain & knew we needed more than doctor's to save me..  She went to where she knew to go and that was to ask her church family to pray for a friend who was more like a sister.. First one I let know when I went into remission and we sighed with relief then to tell her 2 yrs later it came back and spread everywhere..Then we felt relief when a dr. said he would perform a surgery on me that would give me hope of living a little longer.. She was there when I cried that the insurance company wouldnt pay for it and was going to let me die.. She was also there for me when I cried when I found out 3 weeks later that the insurance company would pay for all of it but $40,000.00.. I watched as my hubby signed the papers saying he would be responsible for making sure he would pay for it  and she listened as I told her we didn't have the  $40,000.00 to pay for it.. she did what she did best and that was to step forward and organize and set up a GOFUNDME page to help try to pay for it.. Most of all the day I went for surgery, with no guarantee that I would survive a surgery with the cancer spread everywhere (90% of my organs had now had cancer on them)..Also we were told the surgery would be a long one (12-20 hrs) and they had people die on the table.. She was there.. She hopped on a plane and found us in Chicago the night before... My pastor called and we all prayed..She was waiting the next morning as we got to the hospital and have you ever felt the fear of knowing you may not walk out but you may be coming out of there in a body bag.. Your holding your rock on one arm (my hubby) and walking to the surgery area with my best friend who walked through life with me now for 49 yrs and the fear slowly slipping away.. You see no matter what happened to me in that surgery I knew my soul mate & my best friend were there waiting for me.. Seems since then I told my hubby zillions of times how much I love him as we try not to think about when the cancer will return again (they told us it will and at one point the chemo will no longer work) but I have never told my  best friend THANK YOU for walking and being on this journey with me for 49 yrs.. I wouldnt of wanted to spend it with no one else but you. I know God knew we would be together all these years but when I first met you we didn't know it.. As time went on I think we both realized it.. I know and she knows no matter what happens in life we are just a phone call away..We are just a prayer away and just a hug away.. My friends name is Joyce and Joyce took this picture of me and her.. she came home and I was so glad my hair was growing back (after the first chemo 4 yrs ago).. She put it on the GOFUNDME page and if you are curious of what two friends look like after 49 yrs here we are.. Still smiling and still FRIENDS/SISTERS..  Love you  my friend..     

https://www.gofundme.com/lifesaving-surgery-for-janine-may

  I am on the left and Joyce is on the right…..