Today, I am thankful for memories of a childhood friend.
It takes a long time to grow an old friend. ~John Leonard
The leaves of memory seemed to make
A mournful rustling in the dark.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
~T.S. Eliot
I am feeling blue today.
No, it's not the cooler, drearier weather that followed Sunday's stifling hot 100 degrees. It's a soulful, heartfelt blue.
You see, yesterday, I learned that a childhood friend is dead.
Here's how I made the discovery.
My older sister sent me the link to a web page where a fellow high school alumnus has created an "in memoriam" page for deceased alumni. I quickly scanned the names, listed by year of graduation. I recognized a few upper classmen. Then, I arrived at my graduation year. My heart skipped a beat when I saw MH's name.
I knew MH for most of my childhood. In the fifth and sixth grades, we were close buddies. During the summer, he invited his friends (me included) to swim in his family's built-in pool. We rode our bicycles together to summer school.
He was a Tom Sawyer-type character who often shared his "guy" exploits with me. I think he told me stories just to see my naive, girlish reactions. Like my surprised look when he told me he gave "ex lax" to young Halloween trick-or-treaters. Or my grimace when he told me about torturing snails with salt.
I did not keep in touch with him following high school graduation - no Internet or email existed in the 1970s. I simply wished him and my other friends well in their future plans. I left home, went to college, pursued a career, married and, lived my life away from my California roots. Since I did not attend any class reunion, our paths never crossed again.
All I have is a scrapbook of memories - pages of fading fragments of my life that come alive only when I face my own mortality.
I miss you, MH. May you rest in peace.
For this blessing, I am grateful.
Amen.
Photos:
(top) Red Valerian
(middle) Delphinium (rescued from the front yard garden after a deer munched on the leaves)
(bottom) Orange Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea munroana)
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