Got a good Friend? Then TELL them!

here is some advice I posted on the dear jane list on Wednesday, May 16th. I heard from many other janiacs but one wrote me telling me she had written a long hand written letter to a dear friend of hers of many years. Please do this! and if you can, let me know you did by posting a comment on here. Tom, asked us to do something that would continue on in Joanna's honor, this is my attempt at carrying on a portion of my wonderful friendship with Joanna.

Thank you. ~dmw

May 16th, 2007
Now i'm going to attempt to tell you something I hope you take to the
very core of you.

do NOT stop and think just DO THIS! tell someone or everyone TODAY
that you love them. that they make you smile from the very bottom of
your being. that you would not trade an instant of any moment in time
you have spent with them for anything (even chocolate!) in the world.

yes it sounds sappy. and yes you may both cry, but oh so much better
to cry over the joy having shared your love and gratefulness with your
loved ones now while you can each go forth knowing just how deeply you
treasure every memory you make together, rather to be expressing your
sentiments during their final days. The sadness of the situation over
shadows the joy of the expressions of love and laughter.

If it is hard for you to express your feelings than buy a card and
send it. send the sappiest card you can find! then use that to open
the door to say it OUT LOUD!!!! And when you share this with the
loved ones in your life, know that you did this in honor of Joanna
Fritz-Reed, breast cancer fighter.

i am going to type here for you the verse on one of the many cards i
purchased for Joanna last week. Oh and the reason i bought cards (as
I am more of an email and in person person, is because she had shown
me a card her mother-in-law sent her and it meant the world to her.
her eyes lit up, her smile broadened and i knew that i needed to put a
smile on her face like that daily. then, because i am human and weak,
I resorted to my "old me" ways of not doing snail mail, and i did not
mail the cards. Now I will be bombarding her with cards instead of
one daily. so FORCE yourself out of your comfort zone. emails and
ecards are nice but Joanna has not looked at email in months! and as
I talked to her every day and sometimes several times a day AND see
her in person once or more a week, i let the cards slide. shame on
me. such joy i could have brought to her all along. so MAIL cards I
don't care that postage just went up, it will make the specialness of
the cards seem all
the more.

okay before i go into a more lecture mode or cry and have to leave my
desk, here is the verse:

love to ALL of you. For you are my dear jane sisters and we will
ALWAYS have THAT in common,

denise/deBRAT in florida

"God watches over us
every minute of our lives,
and once in a while,
we are blessed
with an exceptional gift-
a true friend.

I believe that's
what God gave me
when He created
our friendship.

You are one
of the few people
I can really be myself around.
I can joke with you
and know that you'll
share my laughter.

I can cry with you
and trust that you
won't ever take advantage
of my vulnerability.

I'm not afraid
to be honest with you,
because we're secure
in our friendship.

There's no doubt about it,
God has brought us together.

But every day,
through caring and understanding,
we are the ones
who make sure
we stay that way."

~Tara Jaye Morrow