Farewell Party for me!

My friends at work threw me a chocolate party to say good-bye.  I've been there almost 8 years and they were kind enough to remember my favorite things and people.  My partner, Kathy, took these photos so she's not here, though she was the party planner.  She also missed getting pics of the spread!

Dave, Marie, Me, Ronke, Debby, Darlene

Lois, Nan, Judy, Deborah, Jenny, Jessica, Darlene

Jessica, Marie and I

Ronke, Me, Lois, Laurie, Debby, Jenny, Darlene

Nan, Darlene, Jessica

Deborah, Judy and me 

If I'd known we were having a party I'd have combed my hair...

Kathy, Darlene (the other 2/3 of WeeCare)

Dancing buds

Kathi was my sister's best friend in high school, one year below me and a friend to me too.  After we all went our separate ways and raised families we reconnected at the singles dances.  Now we are taking line dancing classes.  It is so fun, good exercise and great to rediscover friendship.  It's a small world and as we get older I think we find we have more; not less in common with each other.

I have found my wardrobe does not really do justice to the "honky-tonk" crowd (as one of my friends refers to the line dancing).

Friends

Someone passed this to me but I haven't been able to verify (or dispute) authenticity to Stanford. However, it rings true to me and was forwarded by a (girl)friend (now, who wants to go to lunch?)

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection-the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin-a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings?-rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged--not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

Toxic relationships

One of my resolutions for this year was to de-junk - eliminate clutter from my life. This includes excess stuff and toxic people. When I read Dr. Elia's article today in MormonTimes I was reminded and I need to learn to set and enforce boundaries better.

"A toxic relationship is based on negativity, criticism, addiction, and emotional and verbal abuse. Feelings of unworthiness and low self-esteem are quite common if we're exposed long-term to someone who is toxic for us. Often it is someone who is significant in our lives: a spouse, parent, child, sibling, a colleague at work or a so called "friend."

These relationships are typically co-dependent, controlling, dysfunctional and destructive. The best way to know if you have such a relationship in your life is to ask the following questions: How do I consistently feel after I've had an interaction with this individual? Do I feel down on myself? Do I feel stressed, fearful and anxious? Do I feel drained of energy and void of good feelings? Do I feel resentful — and do I want to go and eat some chocolate?

If the answer is "yes" to most of these feelings, then certainly you are involved in a toxic relationship. I'm not talking about getting into an argument with someone we love because those feelings will also likely come up, but if these negative feelings are the usual pattern we have in most of our interactions with that person, then it qualifies as a toxic relationship."

This is tough duty, but I really liked what he said: "Life is way too short to keep "friends" like these around." I agree. I have trouble trying to keep everyone happy and in the end nobody's happy - myself included. Some people are just that - toxic. Nothing I do will change it but I can give the gift to myself of creating healthy boundaries. I need to surround myself with people who uplift and make me feel good and capable.

Now, on the action part...

Abraham said to Lot on their parting of ways, "Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. ... Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee ... for we be brethren."

You might be brethren who strongly dislike each other and think the other is crazy, but, still — in the eyes of the Lord — brethren.

Best friends

Kindred spirits, Barb and I. By the way, Barb is another "Dixie Chick."
I swear I look better in this dress than what I'm seeing here!

Dixie Chicks - Didn't recognize us?

Several of us who had our first homes in Dixie Valley got together for a reunion of the survivors today at the O.G. It was great to reminisce. We found each other through FB. It was so fun we plan to do it again and hope to get a few more who couldn't make it today. Jane came all the way from Price (top left) Others include L-R, Cozi, Me, Elouise, Kathy, Teresa, Patti.

Cozi & I
Jane & Cozi
Kathy & Teresa
Patti & Elouise