September 30, 2016. Pleasantfiield, Nova Scotia. Phone Calls.

My habit has been to phone and say hello especially when I had a slow day.  Yesterday, Ken and I were home all day and no one had stopped in to say hello, so by mid afternoon, I was thinking of calling a friend.   Perhaps I had death on my mind but I realized that most of the folks I had chatted with on the phone over the years have died.  I had not actually realized it until yesterday.  I was startled.

Ever since I married in 1958,  Aunt Margaret would call me for a chat.  She was a pretend aunt but a good one.  Right until she died, we would talk on the phone about once a month.  My cousin Diane, who lived in Vancouver,  and I chatted several times each year.  But she died.  My Mother and I talked each week and along with our weekly letters, were able to keep current about family events.  My sister Carol talked to me each week too.   Both my Mother and Sister have died.  And my friend Beverley kept in touch via the telephone but her senility is such that she is unable to speak on the phone, so I can not speak to her.

All my telephone buddies are gone.  An older client of mine gave me advice.  He said that when you turn 80, you must make 2 new friends each year because your old friends will die.  I can see that he was right.