Far Away Friends

Kat and I met online about ten years ago, through our mutual interest in vintage Winnie-the-Pooh. I can't remember who contacted whom first - I think it was Kat who e-mailed me - but it didn't take long for us to realize we would become more than mere acquaintances. Over the years, we e-mailed, telephoned, snail-mailed, and visited each other several times. We even spent a couple of our meetings at her parents' home in Arkansas.

It's an interesting friendship that has to be maintained in such a long distance way. But when you have one like we do, it doesn't matter how long it's been since you've seen each other, you just pick right up where you left off.

Kat likes to say we are twin daughters of separate mothers, with me being the older twin by 58 days and some-odd minutes. Heaven help either of our parents had we truly been born into the same family. I have no doubt we could have wreaked some really good havoc together during our growing up years.

I went to Kat's home in Zephyrhills today. I've never been here before. She got married in January and she moved to Timmy's house. It's on a fabulous property that I could have tons of fun landscaping and planting oodles of those tropical wonders they grow down here. Kat says she has a brown thumb (that's one thing we don't have in common), but I doubt if that's true. Gardening just isn't one of her things. She is, however, very artistic and creative. She's even left-handed. Last year for my birthday, she surprised me with this:


We had a wonderful visit in her screened-in porch, where I'd spend all the time I could if I lived there. It was so cozy sitting in the wicker chairs and catching up on things. I watched the video of her wedding and we walked down to the property she owns but will be selling shortly. Again, a fabulous piece of ground. There was a house, but I was drooling over the vegetation.

I spied some more of those in-the-ground amaryllis and once again, I was the lucky recipient of bulbs. I plan to put them in the ground up north for the summer, then pot them all up together in a large pot for winter bloom inside. I can see it already... And when I am enjoying their crimson loveliness, I'll remember the day I visited with my friend.