Back when I sold my sweet, teeny weeny bungalow in Portland, I met Mary, the then owner of the house. One of the reasons Mary hated leaving the house was the next door neighbor was an older woman named Gwen. Mary was really happy that I took on a similar place in Gwen's life, checking in on her, visiting and chatting. Gwen was about 92 when I met her, living alone, and her sister, Bunny was 95 and still out and about. When I moved, the new owners of my house also took on the role of "Gwen-friends".
Gwen died a couple years ago, right after Bunny. But Mary kept coming to our Apifera events, and in the last couple years, she would bring a wonderful elderly woman named Frannie, who had been friends with Gwen. Frannie loved seeing our animals and gardens, and she proudly displays a photo we took of her with one of the horses. Well, this year at Pie Day, I was really excited to see Frannie and have her visit with the donkeys. I knew she would just love it all. When Mary arrived, I was sad to discover that Frannie is now bedridden. But with Mary was Frannie's daughter, Debbie. Debbie was just delightful, and told me how Gwen still cherishes her picture of her and our horse.
I spent time with Debbie [who had on a wonderful red hat], and it turns out she has MS. I know very little about MS, but I know it is debilitating. I invited Debbie to come to one of our private Pino Pie Therapy Days. So in September, we will be having her out for some Pino therapy. We took this picture so Frannie can have it by her bed.
