TBT: The power of friendship

This weekend I am driving a dozen or so hours round-trip to do the Alzheimer’s Walk with my friend, Sheila Wicklow.

Sheila and I were best buds back in grade school, a friendship that was initially forged by the alphabet.  She was a Wicklow and I was a Williams so I sat behind her for the better part of nine years. I knew the back of her head better than I knew the back of my hand. Like me, Sheila was quiet and studious although she was way more quiet and way way more studious. Unlike me, Sheila had a calmness and serenity about her.

But then we graduated in 1970, went off to different high schools and that was that until a few years ago when I was on Facebook having one of those whatever-happened-to moments. 

Not only did I find Sheila through our school’s alumni page, but just about the time I was about to become hip-high in Martin's dementia, I came to find out that Sheila was the Director of Adult Day Programs at Always There, a program for seniors in Ulster County, NY.

According to the non-profit agency’s website, she has “a passion for working with seniors and helping them find their way through a successful aging process.”  Was I surprised? No. She even has a Master’s degree in Theology with a concentration in Leadership and Ministry/Social Justice. Was I surprised? Again, no.

As I moved from hip-high to neck-high in Martin's dementia, Sheila was there for me with texts and messages of support and love. I, in turn, supported the Always There team’s Alzheimer’s walks with donations.

We kept saying we’d get together some day but busy lives and that dozen or so hours’ drive just stood in the way. 

Not no more. Among the many things Martin's dementia has taught me: stop putting stuff off.

So when I saw the Alzheimer’s walks were coming up across the United States, I texted Sheila asking if I could join her team in person. 

She texted back, “OMG, Shelley…I actually thought, while I was registering for the walk, ‘wouldn’t it great if Shelley could come’…but put the thought out of my mind since you don’t exactly live around the corner.”

Well this weekend, Sheila and Shelley, Wicklow and Williams, will be together once more after 47 years. We’re as giddy about it as schoolgirls.