FRIENDSHIP IN A BAG

 

Our move has been postponed a week which means, if you’ve been keeping track,

we are faced with living around and out of all the boxes we’ve already packed…

Living in this manner, at times, if you’ve ever done it…can be a drag…

but yesterday two friends of ours helped out

they brought us lunch…in a grocery bag. 

On the guise of stopping over to say goodbye…

which in itself would have been enough

they handed us a grocery bag…filled with luncheon stuff.

Home made egg salad, 4 slices of bread,

one tomato waiting to be cut,

one bag of Ruffles potato chips, 

and two fresh muffins…banana nut.

What wasn’t visible to the naked eye…but we certainly could tell

was the friendship they had packed into that grocery bag as well.

We thanked them for their generosity…then sat and chatted for a while

and they left us with their friendship, our lunch, some hugs a wave and a smile.

Having friends makes life wonderful…good friends make life complete…

The love we share is precisely what makes leaving bittersweet.

What is wonderful about friendship however…is the feeling that it brings…

How it shows up when you least expect it…sometimes in the little things.

Like the way two friends stopping by can fill your heart with joy and pride

when they leave behind a grocery bag with their friendship packed inside.

We’ve eaten many wonderful lunches in our life together…

and I don’t mean to brag…

but we can’t remember any lunch tasting better

than this one…served in a grocer bag.

BACK IN '63

 

 I know this sounds naive but still I hope and pray

that in my lifetime I will see

A world that comes together to live in peace and harmony.

It certainly hasn’t happened often…(and lately not much at all)

but when it does it is a beautiful thing…and the whole world is enthralled.

July 26, 1963…at the height of the Cold War…

when most of the world was split into two camps (similar to today)

a 6.1 earthquake struck the city of Skopje, Macedonia

reducing much of the city to rubble and clay.

Skopje did not participate in the Cold War…they did not align with either side

which allowed, for a little while at least, the whole world to be allied.

Countries on both side of the Cold War no longer concerned with anger or fear

sent money, doctors, construction workers…materials and engineers.

Enemies put their grievances aside…tabled their animosities and greed

and united to help a fellow country of this Earth in its time of need.

It was an exciting and inspiring moment in our planet’s history…

as 78 countries united in their concern and caring for Skopje’s recovery.

Sadly this spirit of giving by which the world, for a little while, was guided

faded…the Cold War resumed…and we are once again a world divided.

But the fact that 78 countries were able to put their bitterness and hostilities to rest…and act together as one

proves it is possible…confirms it can be done.

I do believe we can all come together…

that we don’t need a global tragedy…

that we can be kind and generous to everyone…every day

like we were once…back in 1963.

My

 

My is such a beautiful word…it is usually complimentary…not demeaning 

And when placed in front of other words…It changes their entire meaning.

My…when said in front of words like…my Dad, my Mom, my folks

has less to do with ownership and more with the feeling it evokes.

It’s amazing how this little word…the feelings it unfurls

when we say my wife, my daughter, my son…my little boy…my little girl.

To prove how my is a word those of us who use it all hold dear

Try to say my granddaughter, my grandson, my great-granddaughter

without a smile or a tear.

And as wonderful as it is to say…the wonder of hearing it never ends

when introduced as my Dad, my Nana, my PopPop, my uncle, my aunt…my friend.

Imagine what our world would be like…

how all animosities and hatred would end

If, even those we are not related to…

we treated as My Friend.

85 BOXES

 

As you reflect on your life…your possessions…when you’re about to move

along the way you find

those items you want to move with you…and what you feel you can leave behind.

It is a daunting task…so you stop…look around…and think a while…

then begin to fill your boxes with those things you’ll need…

as well as those that make you smile.

When you’re finished…you realize this life that you’ve been so busy making

now sits before you neatly packed…in all the boxes you are taking.

In our case, after almost 40 years together…all the joy we have derived

is now stacked around our house in boxes…at last count…85.

85 boxes…painting a picture of the life we have designed…

but that number pales in comparison to the boxes of memories in our minds.

Boxes and boxes of memories…a never-ending amount…

stacked neatly where we can access them…to numerous to count.

Memories that we’ve accumulated from birth…until now…when old and gray

Memories we keep accumulating…a little more and more each day.

Packing up our house to move is a labor of love for Deborah and for me…

and we look forward to opening all 85 boxes when they’re delivered to us in NC… 

But even more important to us…as we open these 85 boxes…

and the items inside…being to remove them….

are all the boxes of memories in our minds 

that accompany us where’ve we go

the ones we don’t need a van or car to move them.

GOD BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A HONDA

 

 On our walk the other morning…I know this is going to sound odd…

but, if he was to be believed, the two of us met God.

He had curly hair but was balding…and the stubble of a beard…

and from the time he said who he was…it all seemed a little weird. 

In fact, when we heard the news…we were immediately floored

because God told us who he was…behind the wheel of a Honda Accord.

Of course we were a little skeptical…were we sure of what he said?

and if he was God why did he need to be driving a Honda…painted red?

Another thing that made us suspicious…he was wearing glasses…just like me

and we wondered, if he was God, why he needed spectacles to see.

When he leaned out his window to talk to us…he said he was elated

and asked if we were happy with the sunrise he created.

Then he smiled, waved goodbye…but before he drove away

he turned to us and said with a smile…you’ll experience a miracle today!

Of course we weren’t expecting a miracle…still in our hearts and minds all the same

we waited the whole day…but the miracle never came.

Or did it…the sunrise was a miracle…a truly beautiful sight…

The birds, the water, the clouds….all miracles…perhaps that God was right.

Perhaps that balding man in the Honda wasn’t a fake…a charlatan, a fraud…

That man who spoke of miracles…could he really have been God?

After all, finding an unassuming way to reach is…a humble and modest one too…

isn’t that exactly what any God would do?

He certainly took us by surprise…and he drove away before 

we had the chance to ask him why is there prejudice, poverty and war.

But in the end it’s was nice to be reminded that miracles are unlimited and widespread…

and it’s nice to think that God might be driving around in…a Honda…painted red.

TWO OLD COUPLES WALKING IN THE SAND

 

Some unexpected benefits of our morning walks…

besides the variety of beautiful sunrises each day we greet

are all the wonderful people…along the way…we meet.

With the humidity at an all time high

and each day’s temperature beginning around 80 degrees

we’ve been choosing to walk along the causeway… 

where there’s a chance we’ll catch a morning breeze.

This is where we first came across an older couple…

older than us…we guessed.

They were walking east…while we were walking west.

The first few times we’d smile at one another…

as we each slowly made our way

until the day we exchanged pleasantries:

“Good Morning…have a nice day.”

Now we stop to talk with one another…

We know they moved to Florida…a place they longed to be.

They know we’re moving soon…to the mountains of NC.

It only takes a moment for friendship to be expressed

from one older couple walking east

to the other walking west.

Now, each morning we are glad to see them

as the sun begins illuminating the ocean blue…

and by the smiles on their faces…we think…they’re glad to see us too.

It’s amazing how they lift our spirits

on our morning walk along the sand…

when we turn around and watch them walk away

this older couple…hand in hand.