Okay, so I was set up to write a review but got taken out by the news that a good friend of mine was suddenly taken ill. Which was weird because we had just been at a get together at her place to watch football on Saturday (I know, imagine me watching and enjoying football. College football no less. Then toss a kleenex on the floor to check if the law of gravity had been repealed.) I got an ominous message on Facebook from one of our other besties in a language that I hate: “have you heard from ‘X’?”
Which of course immediately sends alarm bells ringing. Did someone else in the family die? (there was a recent and totally unexpected family death.) Was there a car accident? A fire? An attack of giant, man-eating clams? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see a message reading “X” had a loss in the family, car accident, clam related attack, etc and ask me if I heard, especially if you are communicating via Facebook. Turns out our friend was taken to the hospital with a 103 temp and nobody knew where.
Beverly Hills has a reputation in the media as being an insular, snobby and class-conscious place. I’m sure that that is the case on some levels, but not on the part of the people I interact with. We range from church-mouse poor to Old Hollywood to Richer than Sh!&, and we all get together when needed, and when not needed. I call a friend who is on the City Council who is “X”‘s best friend to asks her if she knew anything. She didn’t, but asked me to call her when I found out anything.
In the end I got an email from “X” reading that she was home, having had two IV’s pumped into her for hydration and some anti-nausea meds, and marveling that our little network would ferret out the info and care enough to care. Since I know she’d gnaw through concrete to take care of me if it was necessary I was glad we could prove that it was a two way street, even in the smallest of ways.
Screw the enemies; keep your friends close and your friends closer.
Oh and in perfume news, the City Exclusives are making their annual pilgrimage to Le Labo and LuckyScent this week. Sniff away!
Image: Internets
(I refer to my friend as “X” since she prefers to remain anonymous, including not going Facebook)
Tom, that’s a great post. Makes me think about some of the Posse people I now consider to be friends. We are from all walks of life, we laugh at and with one another, we worry if we don’t hear from them. Several people in our group are not sure if their home will still be there when they leave work, several are in politically volatile countries, most volunteer at doing good good deeds of some sort. So, here’s to us! Together we’ll just eat those giant clams….raw.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who worries about people when they haven’t posted a comment in a while. I always wonder if they’re okay or not.
Me too, Poodle. Being an eternal pessimist, born worrier and having an overactive imagination I am always concerned!
Lol. Kindred spirits. I always seem to think of the worst case scenario first. Actually when I was an EMT one of the medics told me when I got a call to always expect my patient to be dead when I got there no matter what. That way, when they weren’t I would always be pleasantly surprised with my good fortune.
Well that’s my philosophy – think the worst then you might just get a nice surprise. Surely that’s much better than being disappointed?!
I agree with that, and am a big worrier. Which is why I wish people sometimes would just cut to the chase..
Yes we will!
“know she’d gnaw through concrete to take care of me if it was necessary I was glad we could prove that it was a two way street, even in the smallest of ways.”
I know! How nice that you have friends like this and vice versa. “Giant clams”?! LOLOL!
They ever find out what was causing the 103 temp?
I haven’t had a chance to find out yet.
Damn that’s a sweet story.
Thanks!
Tom, I’m so glad you were able to find your friend in relative health and not eaten by giant clams! Especially as we are in an ‘R’ month and we all know how chow-y those Giant Clams can be!
You are an excellent friend, walking your talk! xoxoxoA
I care very much for this lady. She has been supportive of me in a hundred ways, big and small, including insisting that I carry her cell and home phone numbers on an ICE card in my wallet.
I am having similar worries about a friend right now. She lives at the other end of England to me, but we have kept in touch for years by telephone. Sadly she now has Alzheimer’s and has become very erratic and difficult to contact and these days doesn’t answer the phone. I’ve been trying to track down neighbours and friends to find out how she is, and it is quite a hard job. One just hopes that she – and your friend – realise that people do care for them. I am glad X is on the mend. Keep your little fingers and toes crossed for my pal.
jillie – that is a scary situation to be in, I know! I’ve set up what I call a Satellite Network where friends are connected to other friends, etc and I have at least one personal/local connection to those friends (one of my close friends lives in Nova Scotia and if she were to be taken ill or worse…how on earth would I ever know?) – my bfffe knows to contact X & Y…in my parents/grandparents’ days, it was called a Phone Tree.
xoxoA
Dear Musette – yesterday I managed to track down someone at the church she used to attend and who lives just opposite her. She assured me that things are as OK as they can be and reassured me that various people are calling in. Now at least I have a contact who can let me know how she is. As you say, until now how would I ever know what might have happened?
jillie, in some towns they will do a welfare check on your friend, and get you a number to call when you need to check on her. Here, it’s called a senior welfare check, in some towns you call the local police department. I hope your friend is OK.
Thank you, JanLast – she told me in some lucid moments that social services and police liaison officers do call on her from time to time – much to her disgust and protestation. She was horrifyingly burgled earlier this year which brought her to their attention. I never wanted to bring up the subject of how would I know if she was all right, and that was silly of me. But as I said to Musette, I now have a contact and although my friend is not going to get better mentally, I know that she is being cared for physically, which is some relief.
That’s a tough one, Jillie..