When your friends disappear ....

I looked at my blog today - in May I wrote 22 posts. In October I have only written 4! Time to get my act together and do some writing!

We always read that it was unwise to move away from all your friends when you retired. Stay where you know people and are known, the retirement books say. But they don't tell you what to do when your friends leave and move on to somewhere new.

Our housegroup is about to be decimated. Of the 4 couples in the group, 2 are moving to retirement villages in the New Year. We started the group as a Lent course about 5 years ago. We knew Rod and Fi and John and Ju well, but Chris and Deanna were new to Pmb and we loved getting to know them. originally, Pam and Jenny were part of the group, but when Jenny got too busy and Pam had to move to Frail Care after a fall, we became the 4 "un-Silver Circle" couples who had such fun together.

We went to shows at the Hex, had dinners when Chris threatened to cook "bunny", invited other families from the Parish to join us for meals, watched movies, shared books, shared our travel photos, brought gifts for each other after our trips, and even did some Bible Study.

The group has been a wonderful support as we've all struggled with problems with our families, lost dear ones and faced new phases of our lives. They are my closest friends. And now John and Ju leave to live in Botha's Hill and Chris and Deanna move to Pennington. We are going to miss them so much.

Thank goodness Rod and Fi are still here - if they move, we might as well pack up and go too! I suggested to Fi that we take up a hobby to meet new friends - paintball, perhaps? A new phase awaits us - God, give us grace to accept the new things you are asking us to do.