Seeing Stan

Yesterday I ran into Stan, an old friend from our former church. I saw him as I was coming out of Barnes and Noble, after purchasing a Spanish/English dictionary for our foreign exchange student who is studying Spanish (her native language is Romanian).

I thought Stan, who is 86, looked pretty good, but more tired than the last time I had seen him. About a year ago, our congregation which had been meeting for 112 years, closed its doors for a variety of reasons. It was very painful for many people–including our family, as it was the church my husband had grown up in and where we were married, our children baptized, etc. Many of the members were over 60years old, and it was especially hard for them to see the doors closed.

Some of these older people have since died or had significant health issues. I thought of two of Stan’s good friends (ours too) who have died in the past year. Stan is looking after one of the widows, as they are now attending a new church together–he drives her to various church functions.

We are still seeking to fit into a church that works for our whole family–it’s painful even these many months later. It’s good to see people like Stan continuing to carry on. He asked me about my writing, and I told him about my blog. He said he’d like to do some writing too, of his family history. I hope he does it–he could illustrate it as well; he’s a wonderful artist.

It’s nice to make connections with people who share your history. New friends are good, too–but there’s nothing like people who know and love you through all the stuff of the years–good and bad. The old song is really true–“make new friends, but keep the old–one is silver and the other gold.”

You’re a gold friend, Stan. May God bless us as we seek out some silver ones as well.

Till next time,
Suzi