After 30 Years and Still Friends
At Boomer Connections, we are talking about friendship, with stories about the special people in our lives, and stories about how we have made new friends. We encourage our readers to always be open to new friendships, and to tell us about how you met your best friend!
You can find friends in various places: For example, in your church, or serving as a volunteer for a non-profit organization, or at the gym. I have found many of my friends in the church I attend. One of my very good friends I found soon after we moved to Richmond from Alabama. We were both eight months pregnant with our first children; that will make women connect pretty quickly! I had worked for the first five years of our married life, and was used to being constantly around other people. Once we decided to have children, my husband and I felt I should be a stay-at-home Mom. This was a big change for me. Connecting with other moms was a lifesaver.
Here is my story, and why I so value my church and the friends I have made there: I was five months pregnant with my first child when my husband Mike realized that, in order to move up in the company he was working for, we needed to move to another state. There were two different opportunities, one in Atlanta and the other one in Richmond. After a lot of thought and prayer, he decided on the position here in Richmond. While I stayed with my in-laws in Alabama, my husband went on to Richmond to find us a home and get us settled. By the time we were ready to move, I was eight months along!
Can you imagine moving to another state when you are eight months into your pregnancy? SCARY! It was especially difficult because I was not going to be around any of my family or his. When we arrived in Richmond, I saw our home for the first time.
Although we didn’t have our families here in Richmond, we did have our church family. My husband and had I loved our congregation in Alabama, The Westside Church of Christ. When we moved, we looked for a Church of Christ here in Richmond. There was one that reached out to Mike more than the others when he arrived in Richmond ahead of time. And it was this congregation that he took me to upon my arrival.
The people were so friendly, and I felt right at home. Many of the ladies reached out to me and helped with babysitting during my first months as a new mother. Once I was up and about, after complications from the delivery, I became involved with the church food pantry. I became close friends with one of my fellow church members who lived near me. Her name was Peggy White. Peggy had a set of twins around my daughter’s age, so whenever I had duty at the food pantry, she would keep Amber and our son Jason. We also took turns going to church together since we lived close to each other.
Today, Peggy and I still attend the same congregation and we are still close friends. How about you? Can you still say you have a close friend of 38 years? Tell us about it. We would love to hear your story.
By Rita McCulloch
Rita McCulloch is a mid generation Boomer who saw change and turmoil happen all around her from a vantage point as a young African American woman growing up in Huntsville, Alabama. Yet her focus was on family, community, church and helping others. She began helping seniors with their personal and financial needs as a volunteer while raising her family. She then founded a business, Boomer3Solutions, through which she helps educate, organize, and prepare families for their golden age years and minimize the stress that can be related to caregiving. Rita brings to Boomer Connections a strong background in elder care concerns and the many decisions facing their Boomer family members.