If Our Memory Goes Awry

There has been limited time to blog because the days are filled and conversations and laughter fill in any empty spots. Truthfully, there are few empty spots cause we just keep rolling along. Having Lisa visit a few weeks ago and now with Dena's visit winding down, the summer ends on a happy Houston note and September begins happily with a Roy note. Dena and I have had busy days and times but thankfully we have had a few days that accommodated us easing into the morning.  We've been to the mountains, moved through fog, dodged a few raindrops, delighted in shared meals both prepared at a restaurant and those we prepared or maybe rather assembled ourselves. We've laughed at the antics of the remnants of the Feral Fam as well as Buddy. We've laughed at ourselves, our new stories, our old stories and everything in between. We've discussed serious concerns, biblical topics and solved life's problems once again. Sometimes we have made future road trip plans and other times we both kept our cool and patience in Charleston trying to find the ever loving parking lot for the hotel. Yes, seriously, three times a charm. I have probably gained back some weight that I had lost and maybe she has too but we both rejoice in the fact the calories were worthy of consumption. We both delighted in the fact we only ate half of our respective desserts Thursday night. Our Charleston road trip and our other various trips to the mountains gave us the chance to coin a new term for our travels. We have snackage. That means we have put together snacks in a package to consume together...our great invention; various types of candy corn and French burnt peanuts. Delicious! It was a pleasure to go over to Charleston for Dena to celebrate the venture of her former boss and founder of Mustang Engineering with Forbes, book publishing division. The new book is a book on culture and having the right culture for business, church, school or any group activity...no silo mentality but much crossing across the usual lines that can divide. Bill Higgs is a servant leader! He's about people and making other people heroes. In those two Charleston days much was celebrated and remembered. I finally got to meet Heather B who Dena has talked of many times in her years at Mustang. She and her family now attend church at Houston's First Baptist Church's Cypress Campus...and the pastor is who I worked for at the Loop location of the church. Gave her a few stories to tease him with when she sees him next.

When asked how long and how did Lisa P and I become friends...we don't know...it just happened and we are so glad it did. When Dena and I are asked those questions, we can chart the start of our friendship in 2001. We both know in our heart of hearts the difficulties we overcame as our friendship transformed itself into a beautiful tapestry. No matter what, the friendship was more important than the misunderstanding and that proved to make our friendship into a successful, fun and meaningful one. There was work involved and we were willing to do the work.

This year I have been selfish in sharing my friends when they come to visit, although I have shared them a tiny little bit. The first part of this year was a very soul searching time for me and I kept activities and such at a minimum while processing emotions and thoughts. So my reward has been spending quality time with these friends who are so kind to travel here, going to the places we love, seeing new things and encouraging one another along the way. Experiencing the freedom that we share in our friendships and dare I say the phrase I don't care to use much, but making memories that we'll cherish and maybe even ponder for time to come...if we keep in our right minds and remember one another by face and name...or maybe we will feel like we have made new friends if our memory goes awry.