I have lost touch with more than one friend over the years, but I can’t believe I didn’t stay in touch with Barb. She was a fellow employee of what was then The Wyoming National Bank of Gillette. We were a two person real estate department and we had it down. I took the applications, Barb processed them, and I closed them. We both packaged them up and sent them off to the investor. It was an intense job, but we managed to infuse some fun into it. The only rule handed down by the underwriter at the corporate office and the bank president was to make sure an investor would buy them. “We don’t want any of these in our own portfolio. Sell them ALL,” they said.
Barb and I worked hard, so we felt we deserved a long lunch. We took our sweet time every day when we went off to a restaurant that had the best salad bar you could ever imagine. We piled our plates high with all kinds of yummy pasta and other types of high calorie fare referred to as salad because it’s cold and doesn’t contain bread like a sandwich does. After we cleaned our plates, we went on to another small café across from the bank and had a piece of the best cheesecake you ever put into your mouth. Someone once suggested that the only two people in the real estate department shouldn’t take an hour and a half lunch at the same time. We ignored the comment and nothing more was said. Our jobs were foreign to everyone else and they weren’t interested in finding out exactly what we did.
Barbara was my maid of honor when Kip and I got married. As you all know, when we said our I do’s more than 40 years ago, we combined our families and ended up with 4 kids and 3 dogs. When Barb made her toast, all she said was, “Well my friend, your life is going to be one crisis after another.” Little did she know how right her remarks were. I thrive on crisis… Excuse me I just sneezed which made me recall that anytime Barb sneezed she said, “GOD BLESS ME,” before anyone else could.
When I got married, I moved to Casper and Barb and her family eventually moved back to Arizona where they had lived prior to coming to Wyoming for Jerry’s job. Anyway, Barbara and I were soulmates and I really regret letting so much time pass between getting in touch. I found out through Facebook that she died of cancer about a year and a half ago. What happened was, when Kip and I were driving back home from California, Barbs name came up. She was one of those who was on Facebook but very rarely looked at what others posted and hardly ever posted herself. I decided to look at her page that day and her friend had written about letting balloons go in honor of Barb’s birthday. (Her birthday was the same day as Kip’s.)
It’s hard to know what to do with your feelings when you get news of a long ago friend’s passing. I looked to the sky where those balloons must have floated upward and said a little prayer and then I told Barbara about all of the current crisis in my life.
A miss is a miss in the scheme of things
I feel the loss and the sadness it brings
Even though so many years have passed
Since I saw your smile and heard your laugh.
You are in my heart, so when I’ve shed some tears
I’ll thank you for staying there all of these years.
A miss is a miss in the scheme of things
But with you in my heart, joy springs.
Dear Barb, Today we celebrate your birthday. I know you’ll be hanging out with us in spirit. We will release balloons over the lake, play games and do all the things we used to do with you. We love you and miss you so much but we all feel you being in such a peaceful place.
Those 70ish Girls 