Diane Cazalet
One of my favorite things to do each year is celebrate Valentine’s Day with my Needler friends and neighbors. I love to decorate my home with many of my antique hearts and valentines, setting out my finest china and making it a festive affair. I want this event to be special, as it is a time when I can thank my friends for everything they do and mean to me.
I wrote this poem for them two years ago and re-read it to them this last month for the Valentine’s brunch. It brings me to tears when reading it as they are all such supportive, kind and giving friends.
I have been receiving oncology treatments for over 3-1/2 years for recurrent breast cancer. Luckily, I have been stable for over two years now but recently they have found evidence it is coming back in my liver. I am receiving infusions weekly but each and every day brings a new challenge, and each day the more I realize how very important my friends and family are to me. Life is rich and meaningful and hardships are so much more bearable when we have good friends. I have found my friends on High Prairie to be some of the very best!
Friends At Heart
What does it mean to have a friend?
Why does it mean so much?
Sharing, support and caring lift the spirit
and help the heart to mend.
So many hardships and worries
we face almost every day.
Our friends distract us, humor us and
take our cares away.
Sometimes we need a helping hand
Sometimes we need to share.
or find the need to just express
our thoughts with those who care.
Who knows us better than a friend?
Who trusts our motives and knows our strengths?
Who encourages us with what she thinks
and offers us her hand to lend?
A friend does all that and much much more.
We laugh, we cry, sometimes we are shy.
We accept each other for who we are.
Sometimes we care to our very core.
A friend shares, and listens to what we say.
We hear each other as best we can.
Our hearts are warmed when understood.
We want to support in our very best way.
What does it mean to have a friend?
It means the world to me.
I wouldn’t trade you for any gift.
So now a great big hug I wish to send.