This is Jean, my VBF from Abingdon. I've known her since 1982 when she served on a women's panel for a workshop I was producing for the Bristol Crisis Center. A decade later, we became partners in a marriage and therapy counseling center. We worked together for about five years. Since I've retired, we have discovered more about each other than mental health issues. We have a similar philosophy of life, and enjoy a lot of the same books, movies, and tv programs. Not all! We have distinct differences, too, but we find them interesting and so far have never run out of things to talk about.Jean has really "been there" for me since my hospitalization. She surprised me by coming to the hospital to see me, then "fetched" me home and stayed overnight with me. She is very easy to be around--quiet yet conversational. She goes about whatever business she's engaged in whether it's cooking or putting groceries away or doing some laundry.
She is assertive and takes care of her self (and her own home chores) simply working her obligations into my schedule.
When my Virginia Beach friend left, Jean brought dinner over to us several times, called me every day just to check that we were doing o.k., and stopped at the store to buy groceries for me. We had planned to plant my large plant containers on two different occasions, but both times we had a change of plans because of other things going on, i.e. yesterday, she carried all our clothes back to the closets from whence they had come.
I took this wonderful picture of Jean smiling on her son Quinn's wedding day last August. She's not particularly photogenic, and rarely do you get a good picture of her. But this one is natural, and I treasure it. She is the epitome of "friendship."
