A Pause In Time

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to make an impromptu visit to some lifelong friends. I was driving to Connecticut to visit with my mother and wondered what I would do with my evening alone. So I sent Seth a text asking if he and Kathy would be around later in the day. What started off as me stopping by to see the gardens and meet the rabbits turned into “Why don’t you come inside and have a drink?” (I had a lovely grapefruit flavored sparkling water). That turned into, “Why don’t you stay for dinner?” And only ended when it got late enough into the evening that I needed to leave in order to be back at my mother’s house at a reasonable time.

Seth and I have known each other for over 30 years. I met him and his brother Scott at a Church Youth Group in 1978. I have written about both of them in this blog. Seth was an “older brother” back then, and is still an older brother in my heart. As we sat in the living room catching up on the years in between, I looked at him and was struck by the deep friendship that I saw reflected in his face. I don’t know if I was smiling on the outside, but my soul was certainly smiling on the inside.

I rediscovered the friend I had so long ago. I was delighted to find that he had grown from a teenager with faith to a man of God, with some of the same opinions and insights that I hold. We talked about God’s timing vs. our timing. (We had tried to get together in April). How this time, this unexpected request, turned into a reunion that defied coincidence. I felt at home; I was with family.

At one point we started talking about the past, trying to figure out when exactly it was that we last saw each other. Our lives and families had been intertwined due to Youth Group and my friendship with his brother. As the conversation turned to those days in the late 70’s and early 80’s I was afraid I might be uncomfortable with the memories that surfaced. Instead, I found contentment and a recognition of the deep bond that childhood friendships create. Seth compared that bond to a rubber band that is stretched, but does not break.

For me, those years in between are merely a pause in time.

 

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