"EVERYBODY NEEDS A MARSHA"

 

"A friend knows the song in my heart 

and sings it to me when my memory fails." 

 
Recently,I was hanging out with my dear friend Marsha. She rents a room to Phillip, a young German interning at Siemens. He is really enjoying the "American Experience", the food, people, places--just having a great time.  He said his brother did an internship in San Jose and generally disliked it and was only too happy to return to Germany. That's when Phillip said: "He didn't have a Marsha!"

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart. 

As I was driving home, those words struck me!!  How grateful I am that I "have a Marsha"! An extraordinary friend, nurse practitioner, therapist, caregiver, cook, with firm shoulders to laugh and cry on!  Over the last 31 years, we've ridden the roller coaster of life, through ups and downs,marriage and kids, sickness and health,births and deaths . . . . . What a ride-- with many moments of sheer hanging on for dear life!


  My friendship with Marsha started in 1983 when she started working with me in Labor and Delivery. Even though we were seasoned nurses, we were "new" to Sacramento and the "veteran" nurses basically ate their young! So we bonded immediately, in our efforts to survive and blow them away with our awesome teamwork.  Not only did we have similar mid-west roots, we were born in '52!  So as Bogart put it--that was just  "the beginning of a beautiful friendship"!!

A good friend is cheaper than therapy.

Yes, I am truly blessed to have THE Marsha!!  I must not be remiss in saying that, "Oh, by the way, she saved my life!"  Probably in more ways than just one, but in 1995 on a routine exam, she discovered lumps in my groin and sent me to a surgeon for a biopsy.  .  . and consequently my diagnosis of lymphoma.  So I am eternally grateful for her clinical expertise as well, plus all her support through that crisis. "The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it!" 


 

 

Let’s swear each with our pinky
We’ll be the best of friends
Until we are old and wrinkly!

Mother and Son

Keep smiling and keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me,
 for sure
That's what friends are for
In good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

 

EVERYBODY NEEDS A MARSHA!!!