Anne and Harold

Anne and Harold are among our oldest and closest friends. Harold was OilMan's classmate at CalTech and I still claim credit for bolstering Harold (in a long and drunken conversation at a CalTech party) to go out and meet a nice girl.I was all of nineteen and about to marry OilMan, but apparently the "Geology Punch" we had been drinking had emboldened me to impart my worldly knowledge of all things to do with love and romance. We have both forgotten (if we ever remembered)what I said, but Harold took it to heart, for he met and married Anne, a visiting nurse from London.

Our long friendship has seen us through many life events together. We have to been to the weddings, of both their children, and they have been to all three of ours. We have supported each other through various health crises, the deaths of all our parents, and the pleasures of our growing brood of grandchildren. We have settled into a routine of regular visits to each other, in which we pick up right where we left off the last time. Harold makes my eyes glaze over with his reasoned and careful explanations of the Mandelbrot Equation, the inner workings of cameras and computers and the solar system. Anne and I can talk forever about her garden, her knowledge of birds our families, food and every medical dilemma with which we have been confronted. (Anne is a midwife, and I gave birth to all three of our children based entirely on a chat about breathing and panting and pushing we had while relaxing in our back garden.)

I treasure our friendship, and feel fortunate indeed to have known these two for so many years.