Of Friendhsip, Frogs, Fireflies and Firemen: Fabulous and Fantastic

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our seventh round-some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter is, "F".

FROGS

Frogs: not of the pond or tree variety, but of the yard decor kind. This was at the coolest import kind of place in Monticello (it has Jackalope beat by miles!). Right off of the main highway (oooh-don't quiz me on this! Hwy 19?). I had a field day taking photos here at Wheelers Nursery and Produce...although I will admit to not seeing the nursery or the produce since I was totally distracted by the imported decor.

FIREMEN

I beleive these to be the firemen from the Albuquerque fire department. It was a few months back and there was yet another fire at the Bosque. I, for one am very grateful for ALL of our firemen. They are truly our everyday heroes.

FIREFLY

We do not have fireflies here in New Mexico. I wish we did. If we did, I would be able to go and photograph them for myself. As it is, this incredible image belongs to Steven David Johnson who had it posted at the website for fireflies. I emailed Steven to ask permission to post his image here, but have not heard back from him. I hope he doesn't make me take it down, but do visit his site as his images are indeed beautiful, captivating and amazing. Very talented man. The firefly site is very informative too.

FRIENDS

Barbara (Wahinekapu) Kessler, Paula (Mondoy) Scott, Theresa aka Terri Oda)

Friends. Everyone needs them, but not everyone has them. Good friends are a good find and are hard to come by. Especially where your friendship has no demands on each other and transcends time. You can go years upon years not seeing or hearing from each other. And, then, comes that moment when you do get together and you all pick up where you left off. These two are my best friends from high school (St. Francis High School in Manoa Valley, Oahu). We always laughed a lot and had a great time whenever we were together. I'm not exactly sure when this photo was taken-I think maybe 1991? It was at the San Diego Zoo. We graduated from high school in 1972. Bobbi (Barbara) wasn't sure if she was going to fly back home to Hawaii for our 30th class reunion. I talked her into it. Then, she told me that Terri wasn't going to go back home for our reunion-we had all skipped our 25th reunion, so I told Terri that we needed to go as one never knows when that will be the last time we see a fellow classmate. You know, it was one of those' "life is too short" kind of speeches.
We all made it home for the reunion and had a blast seeing everyone. That was in October 1992. We were glad that we made the effort.
That was the last time Bobbi and I saw Terri alive. She died suddenly in March of 1993 (or, maybe it was February). Her heart gave way.
I still miss my friend terribly to this day-I know we all do. But, it does give me an even deeper perspective to cherish the friends that I do have. Because, life is too short.