Reliving

There is a quote I like that goes like this:  “Although we will never pass this way again since the river is always changing and so are we, we will relive the fun, the serious moments, that time of our life in our minds and hearts.”  

This past weekend David Kelly and I celebrated the 16th anniversary of our friendship by taking a little trip through Southern Indiana created by Wendell Trogdon in his book “Backroads Indiana.”  It was my year to plan the trip, and I decided to base it on this book.I fell in love with the stories Wendell told.  I spent hours reading and re-reading the book, researching on the internet the places described in it, and putting our trip together.  Excited and eager to get on the road, I was ecstatic when the day finally came..  

Our experience, and that of the author Wendell, were vastly different. Towns like Zelma, Hickory Grove, Bartlettsville and Chapel Hill were not even there anymore and neither were the homemade pie, great cup of coffee, Phillips 66 sign, etc., about which Wendell spoke so fondly.  *Sigh*   And at the small store we stopped at in Heltonville, I was actually a little afraid as we were definitely stared at as  “the outsiders.”  Afterwards, I had very few stories to tell from the people and places we stopped.  The redeeming experience, I thought at first, came in Norman, at Jiggs’ Cafe, with a wonderful man named Charlie Bailey, pictured here, who talked with us, shared some history and stories, and gave me his menu for my collection on the wall at home.

I should have remembered my opening quote above while planning the trip. The book “Indiana Backroads”  was written in 1994 at a different time and actually about different places than the ones where we stopped.  The river is always changing and the river of life had surged over many of these towns.    

In retrospect, the redeeming experience of the trip was spending time with Dave.  It’s great to catch up, laugh, and then laugh some more, sharing experiences since our last time together. Sharing friendships is a truly holy time - one to cherish - because we will never pass that way again since the river is always changing and so are we….the river is always changing and so are we….so are we…

Thank God for friends like Dave, for down time, for laughter and holy moments.  I will close with another quote I like.  This one is from Proverbs 18: 24:  “Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.”  A true friend sticks by you for 16 years!