Janet, 86, and Ann, 81, worked along side one another as nurses at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and individually reminisce on their favorite memories of each other. After retirement, they both moved into different Brookdale communities and have not been able to see each other since their last shift as nurses – that was over 50 years ago.
Their Wish of a Lifetime was to reunite and share some more laughs together just how they did back when they were co-workers. In the 1950’s, cancer treatment wasn’t what it is now. Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City knew they would have a difficult time attracting nurses, so they built a scenic new apartment building in hopes of attracting more good nurses. It was in these apartments that Janet and Ann met. Janet actually had a cat living with her and it had just had a litter of kittens. Ann, being another passionate cat-lover and living across the hall from Janet, helped Janet find homes for all of the little kittens.
The time they spent together looking for homes and loving families for Janet’s kittens kicked off a friendship that would remain strong to this day. On the morning they met, the connection and friendship they would soon have became obvious to them and the neighboring tenants. They both have a sharp sense of humor and have rolled through all of the punches that life has dealt. They continued to keep in touch with each other, despite any amount of distance that came between them – even when Ann took a job in Saudi Arabia for 16 years, Janet still received cards from her on holidays. After more than 50 years, Brookdale and Wish of a Lifetime were excited to send Janet out to Bradenton on August 3rd to spend some long-awaited and well-deserved quality time with her old friend.
After the weekend together going to the different activities Brookdale had arranged, telling their favorite stories from the time they worked together, and going to a park on the beach, Janet and Ann appeared as if they couldn’t be any happier. Ann said, “We had the most marvelous weekend; we were like teenagers sipping on milkshakes on the patio.” When Janet returned home and was asked how she enjoyed her time, she said, “I’ll be thinking about that trip every day.”
