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Saturday, September 25, 2010

One of my perennials

In 1978 Carl graduated from college and moved to St Louis to begin work for the power company. He was one of 5 engineers in one office. It was a small office and the 5 engineers became friends. A year later when we got married I joined him in St Louis and met the group. Carl generally knows what 3 of the 4 are doing because they are still in the power industry. We have been blest to have kept up with the 4th and his wife, Mike and Linda.

Mike was at a meeting this past week, in LR, that Carl's company sponsored. Linda came to visit with me. Mike has been to meetings before here and Linda has joined him and we have a fabulous visit but the guys don't get to see each other. This year was different. Mike and Linda got to eat supper with us one night.

I remember when Mike and Carl would get together, they would get so silly and laugh so hard they couldn't even tell us what was so funny. My mother called them the Whit Brothers- half and nit. That made them laugh even more.

Here are the Whit Brothers today- still sharing laughs after 30 years.

Here are the calming counterparts of the group.When I moved to St Louis in 1979, boy was I young! Not only in age but in maturity and street smarts and just dumb all the way around. Linda, gently, took me under her wing and gave me much needed direction - some directly and most, just by her life. She and I both had sons in 1982- my first, her last.

Linda is deliberate and intentional. She has a plan. That has helped me, a very much fourth born/sometimes the baby, get a grasp on how to proceed with life.

Linda is a reader. Part of every visit is a book list swap. She is in a book club and has lots to share along those lines. She might be getting me fired up to try one again.

Linda loves her family well. She lets her two granddaughters know they are the apple of her eye. She relishes every age that those granddaughters are and doesn't expect more from them than they are able to give or be. She knows her sons and daughters in law well. She was who her son called when he missed his flight and needed to get ahold of his wife and couldn't. He knew she would help him. She loves her husband and is a wonderful compliment to him.

Linda is an artist. She loves to take pictures and appreciates art. I remember her having pretty pictures near the crib so that her son, Danny would have them to look at as her lay there.

She knows grief all too well. We are both in the sorority of motherless daughters.

I knew when she was here, that I could just carry on with my week and she would enjoy being a part of the craziness. We worked at church on Wednesday, Bible Study on Thursday and then lunch with Kaitlin and on to the Art Building so Kaitlin could show Linda where she spends lots of her time.

One of the many neat parts to her visit was that she did help on Wednesday and because she was here two of our usual ladies could have a day off when they really needed it. Here she is putting on the lemon-pepper on the chicken.

Here we are admiring one of Marisa's drawings that made it on the wall at the art building. Hers is the the second from the left on the bottom row.
Here is Kaitlin giving Linda an in-service on book making. Kaitlin took a class on book making last summer. The teacher told the class that during the two week session they would make 4 books. Kaitlin made 9. I think we can safely say that Kaitlin loves making books. Kaitlin shared how she makes books for children that she babysits for and how they love having a handmade book. I could see the wheels turning in Linda's brain as she looked at the books. I bet she will make them for or with her two precious granddaughters.What a blessing to have such a wonderful visit while laughing lots and getting my ironed sharpened. I have books added to my TBR list and a renewed desire to be deliberate and intentional with life. I am very thankful for this perennial friendship.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ellen,
What a sweet post! I, too, treasure our friendship. I enjoyed every minute of our time together. You'll have to send me a Snapfish link to the photos. Linda

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