The high temp in Phoenix today was double what it was in Seattle. It was raining when I left the Emerald City and I arrived home to a blazing bright orb in the Valley of the Sun. All that change for a sub-3 hour flight.
Which went without incident.
It's always difficult to leave, but a bit more so this time. Mom's in the rehab center and will return to their unit tomorrow. But when I talked to her earlier this afternoon she sounded (understandably) discouraged. Dad presses on but he's getting weaker physically and worries a lot about his "Sweetie."
I've been replaying Sunday's reunion in my head. I didn't feel at all adequate during my K-12 years and my coping mechanism was to be as invisible as possible. So for me the reunion wasn't a, "Hey! Great to see you after all these years!" kind of event. But I still had a good time hearing stories of life since 6th grade.
I may be totally misinterpreting things, but I noticed one reunion attendee who didn't circulate much at all. I noticed him sitting off to the side for much of the time, sometimes by himself, or with only one or two guys sitting with him. He was THE cool guy in our class, held that role throughout Jr. and Sr. High, and went on to make a significant sum of money in his business. He's not driving a Rambler.
I wish now that I'd gone over to talk to him. Yeah, the more I think of it the more I'm upset with myself for not doing so. Did he feel at that reunion like I did when we were in the 6th grade - the one who didn't fit?
Drat.
My childhood/youth wasn't all angst and misery. My safe place was church, and I felt accepted by my Sunday School and youth group friends. I don't remember a single conflict with any of them at any age. I was still a dweeb and a wallflower, but I never felt any fear of either a physical or emotional attack.
Why is that?
I don't know, but I'd like to think it's because the environment was saturated with the grace and compassion taught in the Bible. Even as children we knew God loved us and called us to love each other. Being mean just didn't fit. Having fun together did. Acceptance.
And that's one reason why I love the disproportionate number of young children we have at Pathway. Some Sundays we'll have 25-30 kids, all under the age of nine. Lord willing, they will grow up together in relationships saturated by grace and love for each other. Abby's best friends will be her peers at church, and Evan will take Brooke to the movies. Caedon and JP will play on the same Little League team and they'll all go to camp together. After high school the whole group will go off to college and many will scatter across the country, but decades later they'll still feel an attachment to each other. The Body of Christ from the bottom up.
I've been neglecting my bike. So this evening I installed new tires and tubes, cleaned and lubed the chain and adjusted the brakes. Tomorrow morning, as soon as it's light, I'll start rebuilding a base of mileage. Mornings on the bike, afternoons at the gym. I am a machine!
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