Friends Part I

My family is the most important thing to me in my life. As you have seen on my blog, I love spending time with them and talking about them. But the second most important part of my life are my friends. I have been blessed with so many great friends. I want to do a little series on some of the best friends I have in this world. I want to start off with two special people.

Nelda Eitreim and Janine Beck

Janine, Nelda and I have been lunch buddies for over 30 years. I don’t even remember how we started eating lunch together, but now we see each other every day over our lunch boxes. Somehow we all really clicked as working buddies and when we started going our separate ways to other jobs from “Ward Administration”, we started seeing each other for lunch. We have enjoyed sharing our lives with each other over our sandwiches and chips, and have watched our daughters grow up together. We started the tradition of going out to eat once a week and when Janine’s husband Kim retired, we made it a permanent part of Friday. Kim comes to the VA and picks us up and we go out. On our birthdays, we take a little bit of extra time and go somewhere nice to treat the birthday girl. My daughters grew up hearing all about Janine and Nelda. In fact, they shortened it to “Janelda” for ease on the tongue. When Steph was planning her wedding, she decided to ask both of them to cut cake for her. Seemed a natural fit. Even though they don’t know each other well from day to day contact, all of them have heard so much about each other from me that they feel like they know each other well! We are now making plans on how we will have lunch together when we all retire. I know they will be going before me and I dread the day I can’t pick up Janine and meet Nelda. I am so lucky to have Janine and Nelda as friends and I treasure their friendship!