Byington 3

What is it about some friends that is just so comfortable, so easy? And right through the passage of years, and separate journeys, that comfortable, easy way of just being together always stays the same? Pretty special when we can claim that. So, last month for a few days, 3 "girls" who became roomies and lived in Byington 3 in 1963 shared a small space and did a few things. Talked a lot, laughed probably even more, maybe cried (if only inside) a little. And here in 2008, the year we all turn 63, we know again that whoever it was at Gordon College 45 years ago who decided who would room with whom was right on! Mal and Sara and Sidy. The same and different. Sara with very short, very white hair. And that same wonderful laugh and total honesty. Mal with her little bags of metemucil and glasses; still a little confused. Sidy many pounds heavier but still up to tricks. (Am I the one who had to ask "What did you say?" the most often?) Yes, our journeys have been so different from each other. But we're still so very much the same "girls" we were so long ago. And we know that the eternal bond that ties us together is the best part of it all. For we each have had the same Rock, the same Guide, the same Light every mile of the way. Different joys, different sorrows, different stories. Always, through the years, able to see and hear each other, to know, to appreciate, to enjoy, to love. We're very blessed and thankful. Right, guys??? Love ya!

May 18th

May 18. A very special day 73 years ago in a home in East London. The Riley family welcomed its fifth child, a baby boy. In an old photo, baby Eric, dressed in a white gown, sits on his mother's lap surrounded by his brother and sisters. He's scowling and serious and not very happy looking. But the stories he told of his childhood were very happy. The little grandmother who lived with the family and nurtured in him his life-long love of birds and poetry. The mischief he would get into with his brother Freddy. The years when he was evacuated to Wales, and we heard nothing of the horrors of war, but only of the charm and beauty of the countryside in Ross-on-Wye. How, in his first year of schooling, the symbol on his school box was (prophetically) a little hammer. His love of wood and carpentry. Hours spent on a riverside fishing. Paintings of England (and later America's barns, Atlantic Ocean, Delaware Canal). He was an Englishman through and through. But he came to see America and stayed for half his life. In his later years he was drawn more and more to his beloved England. And now, wherever in Heaven it most resembles an English countryside, is where I think he is. But, I also think, most of his earthly thoughts are about his family. Does he think of the little grandchildren he loved: Oak, Caleb, Meadow, Adelane, Juden, Eden. And the little ones he left too soon to meet: Dove, Ella, Lily, Naya, Sophia, and of course his little namesake Eric Ian Riley Sulik, who when he furrows his little brow and looks quite serious, resembles his Pop-pop.

He is very much missed, but, yes, he is truly Home.

"Unnecessary" blog

The photos in the next two postings don't really need any words. Of course, I didn't take any of them. And thanks to Linda for posting them for me. Allison DeMoss, a friend of Amy's, took the Gast family pictures beside a creek down the Lane from their home. They were taken a few days before Christmas. Linda took most of hers just before Christmas and a few a little while back. The first is Naya with Scott and Aimee's little Sophia. Dove, of course, is the little Scandinavian-looking imp next to Ella in another. I spent Christmas in Chattanooga and loved being with them all. Now back home and will try to get some photos of Heather's brood.