My friend Irene is gone now. She left me with memories of beet pickles, crazy card games and a continuous smile. She had a great sense of humor and we shared many laughs. While fighting her weight gains and losses she once confessed she had two wardrobes of clothes, depending where she was in her planning and executing of a particular diet.
I, on the other hand can’t put on a pound, consequently my wardrobe contains contents that might actually be saleable on the Antiques Roadshow.
Shoes were always a bit of a problem, but once bought, were resurrected depending on the style that particular year. I think somewhere there is a pair of “platform soles” around.
But last week I broke my little toe. It is still swollen, bruised and sore and necessitated wearing slippers to church. But this week I found a pair of sandals that were always too big and that I almost threw out last year. But seared into my mind is “waste not want not.”
I tenderly slid my fractured foot into the sandals and there wasn’t a protest by my little toe. So for the next few weeks they will be my fashion statement regardless of the weather.
It made me think about life and how many times I had almost given up, but my stubbornness had stood me in good stead…yes stubbornness can be an attribute too!
I liked sports but team sports are hard for short people, so gymnastics became my forte and I could throw a mean discus too as long as I was careful to not take off with it when it left my hand.
But even then, as a young person I was struggling with faith issues, sorting out what I should keep and what I should let go of. I had plenty of church traditions to choose from; Anglican, United, Baptist, Pentecostal…you name it…like a “smorg”. they were all in our little town, all enticing young people to see what they had to offer. If anything it strengthened me in my beliefs, and some like my shoes, didn’t fit well at the time and yet later I found situations in life where the fit was just perfect.
My grandson’s Ukrainian Catholicism is a new learning curve for me. Stretching and strengthening my personal beliefs.
And my Bible Study Group has been a great teaching experience. Those ladies are so filled with wisdom. There is from ten to twenty out each week…most over 75 …that is 800 years of wisdom, sitting in my living room.
So like an old and comfortable shoe, I hold and cherish our times together. No doubt they will have something wise to say again next week, when we meet for coffee, conversation and some enlightenment from the Lord.
Photo by Luis Alberto Martinez Riancho via Flickr, CC 2.0.
