This pequenito light of mine: Beautiful Friendship of Susie and Mary

Friends for 40 years is what the say. Now at the ripe age of 67 and 71 they room together in a nursing home. Their room is unique because they are considered to be special needs, one woman blind since birth and the other "retarded" as she described it. Both woman had stuffed animals on their bed, all tied to together with a string, so they don't lose them. The room had some dvds, music, and handwritten signs next to everything they own saying "don't touch" and "don't take" just in case the staff decided to take their things. Mary, can no longer walk and says the things she misses the most are running her hands under water at the sink after using the restroom and just standing.

Before moving to the center, they lived together and Susie would take care of Mary, neither of them have been married or have had children. Susie is the most altruistic and loving friend I have ever seen. Ever. I observed her in awe as she did everything that Mary (blind and confined to her bed) told her to - with pure gladness of heart and excitement. "Susie, get these two woman a chair. Susie, turn on that one cd. Susie, go change our lunch orders." Susie would get up with a smile and serve her friend Mary in whatever she needed. They both told us how just last week Susie saved Mary's life by calling the ambulance when Mary stopped breathing.

Susie, Mary, and Abbey (awesome volunteer)

These two woman are in that room everyday together and have developed such a beautiful friendship. They talk about how things should be and write notes around the room reminding staff to treat them with respect. Mary took Susie along with her on speaking engagements to public schools when they were younger to encourage youth to treat the blind and people with special needs respectfully. Susie showed us her photos from the 60s of Mary speaking to groups of children and kids walking around in blindfolds or trying to draw pictures with a pencil in their mouth. There was this dice game that a nurse brought in for us to play where you roll the die and everyone answers the question. Susie would roll the die and with excitement ask her best friend Mary the answer, once answered, she would roll the die again and ask again. After about 5 times of rolling the die, I asked Susie, "and what about you?" It amazed me, she never once showed any desire to answer the question herself, but genuinely - and eagerly - wanted to hear the answers of her friend.

Today I was reading a little bit, procrastinating a bit to be honest, and these verses took on a whole new meaning after meeting Susie and Mary:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work;
If one falls down, his friend can help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I used to think of these verses more in a romantic relationship way, but now I see how friendships can be this way too. Many of the other people we met or spoke with in the retirement/rehab facility were alone, and often times, the joy was sucked out of them. But Mary and Susie were full of life, and they had more reasons than most of the other residents to be bitter. Their friendship was so strong, that just by walking in the room and spending a few hours you could experience a small piece of it. Susie amazed me with how much love she had for her friend Mary, and Mary amazed me with how much she cared for Susie and how important it was for her to get the message out that everyone is loved. We spent a little while listening to (and singing) to the band Peter, Paul, and Mary. Since they had visitors they figured we could get away with blasting music a bit more, hehe! So ...we turned the music way up and Mary sang the song below with gusto, while laying in that bed, blind as can be, larger than normal, white as a ghost, and full of love - beautiful moments like those don't come by often.

Poem written by Mary and Susie and posted on their wall. They were proud of it. When I asked if I could take a picture they said to share it with everyone because it's important.