Retirement Farewell Luncheon

At noon several dozen friends gathered at a local restaurant to honor and celebrate our friend Loretta (that's her between Mr. Fun and myself). After 22+ years of service at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loretta will retire in December and the next day she will leave southern California to move to the Carson City area of Nevada where her son lives.

While our meals were being served Loretta took the opportunity to address the roomful of friends to tell each one a special memory she had of that person and how she appreciated him or her. It was quite honoring and humbling.

After Loretta spoke, various friends in the room took turns telling fun "Loretta stories." So many memories and so many laughs . . . the afternoon was meaningful precious time. We'll value the memory of this event for the rest of our lives.

We've known Loretta since 1975 when all of our kids were little and we were all so much younger. She and her first husband, Bob, were significant encouragers for the two of us. We were all pretty devastated when the two of them divorced. A number of years later, Loretta married again. Her second husband, Galen, passed away two years ago this past August. We're sure she has been lonely and moving closer to her son will be good.

After the luncheon gathering, we stopped at the 90th birthday celebration of Opal. She is the mom of our friend Terry. All over again we found ourselves in the midst of a reunion. Friends we hadn't seen in years were gathered for this occasion.

The moments of this day gathered together with friends we've known for years were priceless and rare. It was a day filled with gold!

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol