A few days ago, I received a letter from a dear and longtime friend who lives in Northeastern Oregon. I have known her and her husband for about thirty years. I was more a friend to her husband over the years but I did take their wedding photos a long time ago. It wasn’t until the past five to ten years that we have gotten to know each other better. She shared the path of our friendship as she sees it including that her first memories of me are generic, I was funny and was a nice guy. She recounted how she then became friends with my wife, Linda and that each of our children were much the same age. The bottom line of the letter is she believes that I help people get connected; she and I have connected as friends,– that we “get” one another. I wrote the following in a partial response to what she said in her letter to me:


I am unable to find a lot of words to respond to your letter. I cannot stop crying. I so wish that we could see each other more often because I love being in your company, J. You are compassionate, friendly and joyful. This is a great testimony to God’s love and healing.

 Your letter caused me to remember something from long ago when I was eight years old. My uncles and their girlfriends would come to visit our family. Many mornings I got up early to make breakfast and serve it to them in bed. I think I did it because my self-esteem was so low and I needed the praise. Later in my life as I became more confident, married a beautiful woman and had children, I still wanted to please others, but now it was for different reasons. I had learned that so many people are not loved (other than by God and sometimes they don’t realize it) and they don’t love themselves. I was one of those.

If I don’t communicate to them that I care about them because of Christ living in me, that they are special, no else may do it rather. How sad. I thank God for my “gift” of reconnecting people. It’s fun and if I don’t do it, who will? Who do you cross paths with that need to be loved?

Comments

Debra said…
Stan, Your giftings are more than just that. Your humor and sensitivity helped many a teen feel comfortable with you. Comfortable enough to share their lives with you. When I think of my time at HHCC - while I remember all of the counselors fondly, you are the one that I remember with the most fondness.
My time with you and your family will never be forgotten. You are my family now. I will be back!!
Much love, debbie
October 9, 2012 at 7:47 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Sample Court Report

I have felt like writing lately so I will continue to do so. After yesterday's post regarding my early life, I thought some of you might like to know a bit about what I did as a vocation. I have received a number of compliments regarding my writing ability for which I am grateful. Most people do not know that for many years as a Probation Officer, I wrote reports for the Court. In this job I got a lot of practice as an "Indentured Wordsmith." The following is a fictional account of one such report. The defendant in this case was convicted of attempted robbery. In addition to all the other information required by the Court, the reports I wrote contained information resulting from my own investigation including my interviews of the victim and defendant. Most of the report is who, what, why, where and how, but in the evaluation section, I got to throw in my opinion about what consequences the guy should get. Keep in mind, the defendant had already been convicted which inc
Read more

The Driver

After church this morning I was approached in the foyer by a young man I calculated to be in his mid-thirties. He said he was a visitor and his name was Mike. I learned he is the son-in-law of one of the churches elders and I reckon I was pointed out by someone so he came over to talk to me. Mike said,” I really like reading your blog.” He said it makes him laugh and cry and that some of it is entertaining. Mike mentioned a couple of the entries, one of which included the one about Rick Criscione and I going to Mario’s. He went on to say he hopes I’ll continue to write it. I told him that as long as I can think of things to write about, I will do so. His encouragement has led me to write today’s entry. Back in the summer of 1978, I bought a car from my mother’s friends for $300 and it was one of the coolest rides I have ever owned. It was a 1964 Chrysler New Yorker and somewhere along the way one of my friends dubbed it the “Stanmobile.” To this day, whenever someone talks about tha
Read more
After I retired last year I quickly found myself sitting around with nothing to do. I was bored and unmotivated to find stuff to occupy my time. I watched a lot of TV and surfed the web. Well, I thought that was bad, but this past couple of days have been even worse. I am lethargic and practically non-ambulatory. I realize this is not healthy but I don’t really care. Some friends have tried to get me to go out and do something active but I always decline. I’ve missed the past five weeks of church because I don’t want to face people right now. I’m not ready to take on the next wave of sympathy from those I have not seen face to face since Daniel died. I want to be a hermit right now. I can hear Daniel saying, with that little smirk on his face that indicated he was half kidding me, “Hey, Old Man, why are you letting this get to you so much? Suck it up and move on.” My answer to him would be something like, “Because it’s how I want to be right now and I’ll suck it up when I’m good and
Read more