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MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
Fri Mar 6, 2020, 06:31 PM Mar 2020

The ties that bind. (book related)

Tuesday I went to the burial of my life long best friend who, for some reasons and illness I had not seen in a while. We bonded when I was 12 she 13 and over the years made 3 promises to each other for whoever went first.

In Jr. High we decided that each of us would live in the tiny community that her Grandparents lived in and she would eventually inherit the homestead. I followed through many years after and lived here for 12 years before she died.

In High School we pledged to make certain there were no little black hairs growing out of our faces while in our casket. I don't know why exactly but her husband told me that there were no hairs so I was relieved of that duty.

The last pledge we made was to make absolutely certain there was a book inside the casket with us. I thought and thought and chose a book we had read together as very young women and had enjoyed so much then and again later in life when we re read it. I finally found my copy just in time, The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffery. 3 books within a book.

It is funny how pledges like this make me feel somehow like no matter where she travels she will still have a part of me with her. Books mean so much to so many of us. To have bonded as tightly as we did we are now forever connected by something that meant the world to us, only one of the hundreds of books we must have read together in our own little 2 person book club. I loved her and I will miss her but I am so pleased knowing my book is forever in her hands. Travel well Jan.

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The ties that bind. (book related) (Original Post) MuseRider Mar 2020 OP
Whether you intended it or not, that was one of the most genuine and loving tributes Atticus Mar 2020 #1
Ohhh thank you. MuseRider Mar 2020 #3
This message was self-deleted by its author Atticus Mar 2020 #2
Thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry your friend is gone, but she's bound to be smiling wherever japple Mar 2020 #4
I do think that she is MuseRider Mar 2020 #12
What a lovely tribute! hermetic Mar 2020 #5
Beautiful... Freedomofspeech Mar 2020 #6
I lost another friend this week. MuseRider Mar 2020 #7
I was a high school librarian... Freedomofspeech Mar 2020 #8
Librarians MuseRider Mar 2020 #9
I was a librarian in a poor rural school district in SW PA... Freedomofspeech Mar 2020 #10
That is one of the saddest things MuseRider Mar 2020 #11
So nice chatting with you... Freedomofspeech Mar 2020 #13
Same to you. MuseRider Mar 2020 #14
My children are in Maine and Cleveland... Freedomofspeech Mar 2020 #15

Atticus

(15,124 posts)
1. Whether you intended it or not, that was one of the most genuine and loving tributes
Fri Mar 6, 2020, 06:52 PM
Mar 2020

to a departed friend that I have read, here or elsewhere. Jan was lucky to have you as a friend.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
3. Ohhh thank you.
Fri Mar 6, 2020, 07:52 PM
Mar 2020

Over 50 years we roamed the galaxy together with our books and anything else we could get up to.

I was the lucky one. Thank you for this reply.

Response to MuseRider (Original post)

japple

(10,292 posts)
4. Thank you for sharing this. I'm sorry your friend is gone, but she's bound to be smiling wherever
Fri Mar 6, 2020, 08:29 PM
Mar 2020

she may be. And you will have a piece of her in your heart forever. We should all be so lucky.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
12. I do think that she is
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 06:37 PM
Mar 2020

smiling. She is owed a good afterlife (if there is one) this life was lacking for her. Always her health.

She will never not be a part of me, that much is true. I decided to start with all the pre books to the Dragonriders. I never read them all so I will work through and give her a chance to finish first, that was always important to her being a year older ya know.

Freedomofspeech

(4,376 posts)
6. Beautiful...
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 11:06 AM
Mar 2020

I have two friends who have now passed and we promised that if we were ever in a coma that we would visit and pluck any facial hair. That brought a smile to my face when I read your tribute. Love and peace to you.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
7. I lost another friend this week.
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 01:03 PM
Mar 2020

She was not a real close friend but we were neighbors as well as occasional friends. She was a librarian. Odd how that happens.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
9. Librarians
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 03:02 PM
Mar 2020

are the best people! I have a lot of friends who are former or current librarians. Most of them are involved with music too and that is how I actually got to know them. I will depend on librarians before anyone to keep our Democracy safe. Well done Freedomofspeech.

Freedomofspeech

(4,376 posts)
10. I was a librarian in a poor rural school district in SW PA...
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 04:32 PM
Mar 2020

We had so much federal funding that I had the most beautiful library with over 50,000 books and beautiful artwork. It was the social center of the school. My library aides were everyone from special needs kids to the quarterback of the football team. We were family. After I retired, they renovated the school, ripped out the library and threw the books in dumpsters. They even allowed some science classes to burn some of the books.
The Media Center there now has maybe a thousand books, pool tables and tons of TV's. I realize it is a different time but this is heartbreaking to me. I still hear from so many of my former students and they all tell me the library is the best part of their memories from high school.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
11. That is one of the saddest things
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 06:35 PM
Mar 2020

I have ever read. I am so sorry for you but then the kids. There is little to be gained that way, pool tables? TV's for entertainment? What a loss and the thought that they would just callously throw so many books away and allowing some to be burned? Wow. I am sorry. That must have hurt you all the way through your soul.

I am so glad that there are former students who tell you that. That is a major solace at least. Thank you from me all the way down here in Kansas.

Freedomofspeech

(4,376 posts)
13. So nice chatting with you...
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 07:10 PM
Mar 2020

It did break my heart. Take care of yourself in these scary times. May the Force be with you.

MuseRider

(34,346 posts)
14. Same to you.
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 07:52 PM
Mar 2020

It is rather unnerving. At least I do not live in a populated area and I have a lot of food etc put away (not TP, we are both ex medical people and knew better than that).

Freedomofspeech

(4,376 posts)
15. My children are in Maine and Cleveland...
Mon Mar 16, 2020, 08:16 PM
Mar 2020

Wondering when we will see them again. This is all so horrifying. That orange bastard.

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