Friday, September 28, 2018
Friends
Friends
I have often advised, 'Consider your friends as life jackets." Here are some of my oldest and dearest. Far right (in blue coat) and left are Rose Roberts and Gail Thompson. These two women were once in my women's studies classes some 20 years ago at Wichita State University in Kansas. They were among the group called "returning women," a term applied to older women then coming back to college to complete their degrees. They were then in their thirties (and I was in my early fifties.) They also enrolled in my class in "Personal and Social Transformation," which carried a content considered quite radical at the time (the Great Mother, quantum physics, extrasensory perception and the like). They were among my favorite students, for they were open to new ideas and conversant with the old. They became fast friends and now are both grandmothers. They still visit me in Colorado about once a year and take me on long drives in the mountains to, among other places, Rocky Mountain National Park, not far away. We had a great time this last week, visiting the Park and then spending the day together listening to the Senate hearings on T. V. These women are very perceptive and we all felt the same about the presentations. Even though they live in a very conservative area, they (like many others in my classes) are quite progressive in their views.
We also visited Ann Lacy Griffin, (in the red sweater) who lives in a co-housing community, about 20 minutes outside of Boulder. Ann is very artistic, and her apartment reflects her talents, with decorations in Arabic, Japanese, and others, and including examples of her own painting and photography. Ann and I met several years at a classical music concert when we happened to be seated next to each other. Even now, we sometimes go to concerts together, especially those of classical or world music. The land where she lives is, to my mind, quite magical. If I had a car, I would move there also.
