Ten-Finger Exercises

A Trip to the Past

We drove to a Beech Day fly-in today, Bill's pilot's license still having not come from the FAA. He graciously pointed out that he had volunteered himself and not me, so it would be okay if I wanted to go shopping. Instead, because this was a town where I used to live, as did my mother, I drove around. So many changes, so many hundred of houses farther up the hill and in what used to be apple and prune orchards.

The old neighborhood was looking pretty shabby, even the patched cracks in the streets. It was nice to see my old house looking good in a pretty color of paint and well kept up. There was a huge tree in the back yard that was unfamiliar. I wonder how it grew so tall so fast. I could see the peach tree through an open gate, and it had endured but not thrived. It had a large dead limb. Near its base is where our family pets were buried.

I spent a couple of hours with an old friend who will be 81 next week. Hard to believe Ruth could be that old. She is the person who introduced me to the Bible, not just reading it, but studying it and thinking about what it said. A question she asked from time to time was, "What is God doing in your life today?" She has left the church in recent years and gone to another. The new one doesn't preach quite what I believe, and she doesn't either anymore, but it doesn't matter. We are both parts of the body of Christ.

It was so good to see her. She laughed when I said I hadn't had a good hair day in years and said she hadn't either. She said it was the best day she'd had for a long time. We prayed together before I left, and I cried, and she said, "Look at you!" But she looked close to tears too. It's good to see old friends.