When Byron and I considered where we would live after retirement, we soon agreed on Friends House. We were familiar with the campus from visiting our friends Myra and Roger Wolcott and by service on various Baltimore Yearly Meeting committees. We knew that Byron’s Parkinsons would progress and we wanted to have convenient access to care and be part of a supportive community.

When we moved here during the pandemic in June 2020, the only opportunity we had to socialize was in the garden, a welcome respite from isolation. The newness of our experience was a distraction from Covid restrictions, as were paths we could take through outside spaces and a stunning view of the pond and garden. Add to those gifts the daily search for items in boxes, we had everything needed to get through the challenges of quarantine.

Byron and I had first met Joe Rockey, our downstairs neighbor in Lodge 3, attending Friends General Conference a few years before moving to Friends House. What good fortune that now Joe and Jane are neighbors and close friends. Mary Campbell and Bill Strein were dear friends from Friends Meeting of Washington who moved to Friends House last spring. YAY! In our five years here, Byron and I have woven many remarkable people at Friends House into the web of love and friendship, an essential reason for our saying to each other frequently, “I am so glad we are here.”

Since Byron died, my experience of everything is new, through a different lens. Yet, the love and support we both relied upon is
here with me.