Ode to the WMVR

My friend is moving.

I remember when I was a kid - a very, very long time ago - when it would come time to move to a new base and have to say good-bye to my friends, I found it wasn't really all that difficult, because most of us had known each other less than a year, anyway. That's the way it was with military life. We moved 13 times in 10 years. (I went to three different schools for the 2nd grade alone.) We were tough. We adapted. When my first book came out and we were working on my biography, the GP dubbed me the 'quintessential Air Force brat' because she knew my personality well enough to know that I was 'that kid' - the one who made friends easily and parted with them just as easily because we knew that's the way it was. We were self-sufficient, maybe a little aloof, because we knew that close personal attachments and our particular way of life didn't often go hand-in-hand. That having been said, however, with lines of communication being as open as they were even then (and still are today), a few of us did keep in touch over the years - my parents still visit with their old friends, and for a while I even kept up with some of the friends I used to hang with on base. As a matter of fact, a couple years ago I drove to St. Louis to attend the wedding of a gal I've known since we were six.

When I was 10, and we made that final move to what I now refer to as my hometown, a relatively small town just outside Indianapolis, I learned what it was like to form friendships that last. That's when I met the BF (who arrives today for her weekend visit!). We've been friends for over 30 years now. She was maid of honor at my wedding. She was here to visit within no more than 2 months after the births of all three kids. I skipped out on Homecoming one year to see her when she got married. We keep in touch by email, and try to get together at least once a year if we can.

Fast forward to 1996. I had been working for the physicians' group for 7 years when the WMVR was hired to replace one of the secretaries who was leaving - by then we had our own department for transcription, and she was hired as a transcriptionist to work alongside me. Within a week we knew everything about each other, discovered we had more in common than it was probably quite normal to have, and as a natural progression of things became fast friends.

If you've been a Lunch Room visitor for any length of time, you've heard me talk about the WMVR on a personal level before. She's an amazing person, has been through more in her life than you can imagine and still manages to carry on with a smile, and yeah, she's moved before (several times in the last 5 years, as a matter of fact). But none of those moves has been as permanent as this one is going to be.

We are at the age where we are starting to be concerned about the ages of our parents. So she's going to Florida, where she'll be closer to her folks in their golden years, and neither of us anticipates that she'll be coming back to Nashville (except to visit, of course).

This is what's making it hard for me. We've been friends for 12 years now (this month, as a matter of fact), and there are lots of memories in those 12 years, especially as it concerns my writing career. She's the one who first said, "You're writing a book? Oh, please bring it in so I can read it!" And with that statement she became my first independent reader. She's read all six of my manuscripts and has offered more than her fair share of constructive comments and helpful suggestions. One plot element in my first book even came from a dream she had. (Closed circuit: What map?)

Because we've both carried on in the same profession, albeit for different companies, we still talk on pretty much a daily basis, getting help with work things (sometimes) and chatting about life in general (a lot). We say we'll still talk quite a bit, but it's my feeling that our communications are going to be more along the lines of the email touching base messages that the BF and I now share.

She will, of course, continue to be my independent reader for as long as I keep writing. JT is my critique partner, but as such she, of course, looks at the manuscript differently from how the WMVR does. From the WMVR I get an honest opinion about how the story reads, from a reader's perspective. And I trust her judgment, because she's read - well, everything. She's one of those gregarious people who will go to a book signing of an author she likes, even if she's only read one of his/her books, and instantly become a loyal fan. She told me the other day how excited she was that she's had the opportunity to meet so many authors over the past few years (I like to think I might have had a little bit to do with that, having introduced her to several I know on a personal basis).

I'll miss hanging out with her. I'll miss what we used to call our flop-across-the-bed sessions, where we had a notepad and lots of ideas, and flopped across the bed on our stomachs to discuss things and hash those ideas out to see if they would fly for the story. I suppose there will be more opportunities for those in the future, but it will involve a plane ticket and a rental car, and lots and lots of planning.

So because I'm not allowed to say a formal 'good-bye', here's to you, WMVR, with many thanks for being my reader, my encourager, my cheerleader, my publicist, and most of all, my friend. May the move go well, may you get settled quickly, and may you enjoy many more years with your parents.

And I forbid you to cry when you read this. ;)

=) JB

Because I am a quotable quotes nut, here are a few on friendship, dedicated especially to the WMVR:

"We are advertis'd by our loving friends."
-- William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) English dramatist & poet

"Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment."
-- Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD) Roman dramatist, philosopher, & politician

"A friend is one before whom I may think aloud."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) US essayist & poet