Priceless!
A great friendship that grew out of
a career of working with taxes.
A trip for an hour to the northeast today for a lunch date with a dear friend. Doreen and I were first acquainted when she worked in the Nicollet County Assessor’s Office and I worked in the Watonwan County Assessor’s Office. As years went on, ironically we both were appointed to the post of County Assessor within months of each other in 1988.
Getting together for business meetings could have been very dry and dull if it were not for the point that we shared a love of gardening. We would sit among the group and when the meetings were adjourned the majority of those attending would head for the bar for Happy Hour. Doreen and I would seek out a nursery or green house and poke our fingers into pots of soil that were growing flowers. 
As decades went by we also got together when we could have the entire day to chat, try different places for lunch, pull out photos of families and fill our trunks with new plants for each of us to take home and add to our gardens. We didn’t always collect plants. This pictured concrete goose that graces one of my flower gardens came from one of those road trips. Every fall when Dennis grunts as he tucks the goose into the potting shed he can’t believe that Doreen and her van were able to trundle this heavy item to St. James.
I have been retired for five years and Doreen has a date set in late 2015 for her retirement. Though she has that date in mind she also knows if push comes to shove she has the option of leaving sooner. I have to catch myself as to not embellish retirement too much as I know when her time is on the schedule it can seem like a lifetime away.
Ironically, we both have young grandchildren and there is nothing to keep us from sharing their antics or adventures. Our lunch visits will continue as we squeak them in with busy schedules. Friendships either grow or they die, Doreen and I will nurture our friendship for continued growth, but that is not to say that all the plants that we purchased over the years have been quite so lucky. But . . . we know where we can always find more.
P.S. Doreen had sent me materials and instructions for knitting so I could teach Megan. I did take my knitting along to allow Doreen to know I am working on even tension and stitches. I may frame this first project and call it abstract art as so far each row takes on its own look.