#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Japanese Maple

Life is no ‘brief candle’ for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

Rain, rain, rainy woods, another day of wet November, and we take our long ramble in the mess and are thankful for the fresh air. A busy day in meetings and doing board work, enjoying the festivity in the air, the holiday approaches. Good smells from the kitchen as my daughter bakes our traditional molasses cookies. In the late afternoon, one of my oldest, dearest friends arrives with her grandchildren for a visit to meet me. Children in the house! Adorable ones that I could talk to for hours. Oh, Jeanne and I grew up together from age thirteen, starting a friendship by making mischief, and now we’re sixty together this same year, our birthdays celebrated and behind us. We took such different paths at age 17: she to have her first born son, me to head toward college. We have had many adventures since. We’ve been present at some of each other’s worst and best life experiences. When I lost my first love, she was the first one I called and she was with me in a split second. When more than one of her siblings died over the years, I was there. But mostly, we’ve lived apart, and often gone for months and years without a word. We always find each other again. We always reach out to each other on our birthdays. This year, the reunion seems to be deepening and renewing our connection. What I find so stunning, so wonderful, so heartwarming and joyful is that, all these years and troubles and trials and successes later she is still married to the man who fathered that child. Who would have predicted this long-lasting love? Tonight, for thanksgiving, I got to hug two friends for decades who brought their grandchildren to share delight with me. Jeanne remembered that I was the one who got her the job at the department store, Zayre!, where she met Jim, and Jim looked down at his two grandkids, smiling, said, “Yup, without you, Kel, they wouldn’t be here.” Sweet. Long lasting love, this is a bounty.