Fearless Females - 3/28/10

Thanks to the Accidental Genealogist for the Blogging Prompts for Fearless Females for March!

March 28 — Do you remember your mother’s best friend? Your grandmother’s? How and where did they meet? How long were they friends? What activities did they share?

I certainly remember my mother's best friend! She actually had two best friends, and while they were total opposites, Mom loved them each as much as any sister could be loved!

The first was Betty Jo [see my Sentimental Sunday post for 3/21/10]. Betty Jo actually introduced my parents, almost 52 years ago!

The second was Talma. While Mom grew up in Indiana, Talma grew up in West Virginia, and was a close friend and school mate of my Dad's when they were children. Talma and Mom were inseparable, while Betty Jo and Mom were only together for a couple of too short times, the rest of their friendship maintaining not only time, but great distance!

Both women were also very active in the Church where Mom was a member and active. Betty Jo was a choir member, and how well I remember watching her sing in the choir loft on Sunday's at the little brick Baptist Church on East Ocean View in Norfolk, Virginia when I was small.

The women were not the only part of the friendship! The husband's were very good friends as well. And they spent alot of time together as couples. Playing card games and parcheesi on a homemade board that Dad had made. They went to church events together. And shopping together. They went camping together.

Mom taught me what a good friend was in her very example. I also learned how blessed a person was to have such a friend in how these two women came to the rescue, not only for Mom, but for anyone in her family if the need arose! They shared in the joy of births, and in the sadness of deaths. Through financial hard times, and in times of plenty. They were, indeed, a very real part of our family!