Memory Lane

When good friends get together, they are bound to travel down memory lane.
It is good to travel there; it is not good to park there.
Being with our college friends this past weekend reminded me of things I had forgotten.

When we were married, our first TV belonged to the cook of my husband’s fraternity.
It was small and was only a black and white set.
Until we bought our own, this little one did just fine.
Since we did not have cable, watching TV meant adjusting the rabbit ears antenna.

We also had a big, black desk chair with wheels that my husband got from someone.
It was fine in college, but he brought that with him to our first apartment.
I was trying to make everything cute and homey, but I had to do it around that chair!

Since we were the first of our friends to get married, many of them would come to visit us.
All the guys argued over who would sit in that chair.
It sounds as if I am being unfair in my assessment, but I am actually being kind.

That chair had duck tape on the arms!
Duck tape holds everything together; it does not go with cute and homey!
The chair stayed, tucked far back in a corner, across from the black and white TV!

When these same friends came to visit, they would tease us about the drive.
We lived in Lancaster, PA at the time; Amish country.
Driving to see us, they would often have to pass an Amish buggy.
Driving to see us, they would sometimes have to stop while cows crossed the road.

One friend jokingly complained about a few things.
The aroma of the fertilized fields made his eyes water!
The droppings on the road from the horses were not good for the paint on his car!
They still came to visit; we are still dear friends!

The chair moved into my husband’s office when we got our first home.
Our first home: away from the fertilizer, the buggies, and the cows crossing the road.
The chair stayed there with the duct tape until we were able to get real office furniture.
With babies coming every 2-3 years or so, office furniture was not on the top of our list.

I remember fondly our time in Amish country.
I remember coming home from our honeymoon.

Many of the friends that we just saw on our weekend getaway were at our wedding.
Since they all went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, they drove quite a distance to be with us.
At the reception, they all brought red and white paper Varsity hats.
The Varsity is a successful hamburger restaurant which was begun by a Tech drop-out!
As if on cue, they all pulled out their hats and wore them for the rest of the day.

Friends and family festively decorated both of our cars.
They didn’t know which one we would take to the airport, so they took decorated both!
Soap, crepe paper, and shaving cream covered everything but the windshield.

We had a honeymoon to go to and were not about to clean our cars.
So we left in my husband’s little green Saab and got a lot of stares as we drove!
A wonderful week later, we returned and picked up my car to head home!

Home to Amish country, with the buggies, and the cows, and the eye-watering fertilizer.

As I was driving behind my husband the red warning lights came on.
There was no cell phone then; there was only honking my horn and blinking my lights.
I made a lot of commotion on those rural roads that night.

We pulled over and my husband opened the hood of my car.
The radiator was overheating, there on the country road.
We were not near a gas station or near any water to refill it.
My husband needed to go to the nearest house and get some water.

I remember thinking that this is not the way I pictured our first night home!
A man answered the door, probably skeptical of us since we looked so different from him.
A woman standing behind him was quiet but very sweet.
When she heard wedding, honeymoon, and new apartment, the differences didn’t matter.

We were young and beginning our life together.
She remembered.
They gave my husband a watering can filled with water.
He filled the radiator, returned the watering can to them and we headed home.

Delayed but determined.
The future was ahead of us.
This was the first of other obstacles along the way.
Obstacles happen; you can’t plan for them.
You handle them together and you laugh a lot afterwards.

We should all sit down and remember.
Remember where you have been and where you are now.
Remember who walked with you along the way.
Who stepped in your path for only a moment and who has gone the distance with you?

We don’t walk this journey alone.
It would be terribly lonely if we did.
Make a list; stop and thank those people who helped you press on.
If you cannot thank them in person, or in a phone call or letter, thank God for them.

Everyone has stories of moments that shaped us whether we knew it at the time or not.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart…(Philippians 1:3-7)

Walk down memory lane.
Think about the special people in your life and thank God for them!