A KALEIDOSCOPE OF FRIENDS
A Friend Profile: Presenting Lenny!
© 2004 Lorraine Dahl
Written for Lenny with LOVE from “Fred”
or friend who “fell off a charm bracelet.”Lenny is a charming free spirited young woman. Well, not that young. With her husband long gone she was raising her two sons as she felt young men should be raised.
She taught them that life is not about material things but to be lived with as much fun, love and laughter as the law allows. She got a good paying job at a local factory and her only "frivolous" spending was to buy a home so the kids would have roots.
The boys had nutritious food. An example would be breakfast. NO sugared cereal! Vegetables were cheap and necessary. Lenny brought smiles to their lives daily.
They were always in cahoots.
One situation sticks in my mind.
After carefully coaching the boys as to what to do and what to say, she took them to visit a friend and co-worker, Lyle and his wife. Lyle had a wonderful sense of humor and had a very straight-laced and disapproving wife. The three arrived at the Akam home and got out of the car giggling. Lenny shushed the boys.
At Lyle’s country home they entered and all entranced Lyle with their jokes and funny tales. Lyle certainly enjoyed the visit. As Lyle and Margaret walked the trio to the car Lenny spoke up. “OK boys! You know the drill by now” and unlocked the trunk. The straight-faced boys climbed into the trunk, Lenny slammed the lid and smiling and waving wishes the Akam’s a cheery goodbye.
Margaret’s eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped! She turned and Lyle was lying on the ground laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach and his crotch at the same time. Tears streamed down his cheeks! He was roaring with laughter!
Out of sight of the house Lenny pulled over and got the boys out of the trunk. They laughed so hard their bellies hurt while tears ran down their cheeks. They high-fived each other all around. Guts aching, they stopped for ice cream and headed for home where they went over it again and laughed again until they HURT!
Such was the joy that Lenny shared with her sons!
After Lenny and Lyle told this story there were laughs for weeks! Those of us who had met Lyle’s wife thought it was truly hilarious!
Such was the joy and fun that Lenny shared with her sons. Lenny also sang with a local group wearing spandex, which after seeing her perform, the boys declared "Cool!"
Lenny is such an upbeat person that she once told this 100 pound writer that she looked like something that fell off someone’s charm bracelet. What a wonderful thing to say to someone who HATES the word “skinny!”
As time went on Lenny’s job was subjected to a layoff. She had no knowledge that this would be a long layoff but decided that NOW was the time to pursue her longtime belief that she should be a nurse.
After applying and being accepted to nursing school in a city thirty miles away. She knew that driving her old car back and forth wouldn’t work for long. Her sons knew they had to continue with the lifestyle they were accustomed to and would be as usual, simply simple.
As Lenny and I developed a stronger relationship she introduced me to her Grandmother, Dorothy, who immediately became “Grandma Dorothy” to me and I was another Grandaughter.
At one point my friend from work, Chris and her Mom, Dolly, Lenny and her Grandmother, Dorothy, and my Mom, Norma all went to a Yo Yo Ma cello concert at the theater in Erie. We took the ladies to dinner first and the evening was wonderful! Everyone enjoyed it.
Grandma Dorothy had prepared Lenny lunch when she was at the factory and continued when Lenny was attending nursing school. Always a salad and usually some chicken.
I was always welcomed in Grandma Dorothy’s home and as she lived only a block from me I would stop in on my way to work or when I was taking my black Lab for a walk. Grandma always had an ashtray in a permanent spot for me and a rug for “Brigette” to lie on.
We loved having “Grandma Dorothy” show us the latest quilt she was sewing. As she was an avid reader and I have nearly 900 hardcover books in my personal library, we often discussed the latest books. I loaned her many of mine. We often critiqued many of the new books and she was happy to read mine. Meanwhile Lenny was plowing her way through nursing school. By this time her unemployment had run out and she was reduced to welfare and food stamps. Although she and her sons were grateful for the food Lenny lamented to me at Grandma Dorothy’s one day that it is wonderful that we have food the government just doesn’t understand that I can do without napkins, paper towels, Kleenex and things like that that. But we do NEED things likes shampoo, bath soap, laundry soap, and toilet paper! Toilet paper is the thing that drives me NUTS! We NEED it! For the next three years, though I had no car, I arranged a 12-mile ride to Lenny’s every month and dropped off a 24 pack of toilet paper. Any son outside would see me coming in the driveway and yell, “Here comes the toilet paper lady!” How good it made me feel to help out a friend!
Lenny’s two sons are grown now.
She finished her nurses schooling, became a nurse, took more schooling and became a dialysis nurse. She met a man who is also a nurse and told me he was a “keeper.” They married.
Nurses are in such demand that they can sign a six-month WHEREVER they wish and at the end of the contract they can either stay or move on.
They now travel the upper 48 states.
Have been in New Orleans, Las Vegas and are working their way to California.
