ABOUT LOST THINGS

Sometimes life is an oceanic blur.

Pam and my days are always in full tilt boogie. We love opening our home to friends and those who need a “lift up” in life.

Since Christmas it seems to have been non-stop. A week with Russian friends, then those from Belarus, 9 days with our Guatemalan painters, a few days with our very precious Minnesotan relatives and grandchildren sleepovers.

Just last week, we were supposed to babysit our littlest grandy In Winston-Salem, but Pam got a 101 temperature and we could not go. Around that same time, I had two unsuccessful epidural shots for a damaged vertebrae and Pam soon having surgery for her knee was bringing me to the brink.

So I’m watching the Oscars, and seeing one of my favorite singers, Bette Midler singing “The Place Where The Lost Things Go.” She sang beautifully, but she looked older to me and all of a sudden I felt older, tired….and kind of lost in the moment. That notion was a combination of medication, concern for Pam, the whirlwind of people and just a lotta stuff…..The feeling lingered in me.

It was just one of those tunnels in life that you pass through….and it is what it is.

I didn’t crawl out of that vortex on my own. It was realizing all of the vested relationships I had through the years that slowly lifted me out of the mire. As I slept in the chair next to Pam’s hospital bed last night, I rubbed her hand…my eyes burning…..comforted knowing there were people praying, people concerned, people caring and people in action for us…. reminded once again of that powerful antidote….Friends.

Pam and I are far beyond grateful to our friends, their posts and words of encouragement that help us make sense of those times when we get momentarily overwhelmed and lost. It is through these intersections that God moves…He knows about lost things.