2022 Thursday — at a Table

Gathered at a table . . . is the intro to so many stories.

At 5:00 this morning Mr. Fun received a text from our friend letting us know that he and his daughter had arrived in Santa Barbara; they had gotten an earlier start leaving Los Angeles than they had expected. Mr. Fun then woke me to say, "John and Jill are in Santa Barbara." My immediate response, "They will be here in two hours." I was quickly out of bed, shaking the sleepiness off me, and trying to make a plan to execute so that I'd be ready by 7:00.

We have not seen John (we are guessing) in 35+ years. He was one of the star personalities in our jr. high church youth group back in the late 1970s and early 80s. We were directors of the group for 7 years, from January 1976 until the end of 1982. John will be 59 this November.

We're not sure which years John was involved in the youth group; none of us seemed to focus on that this morning as much as several vivid memories during John's youth group days and since then. Back then he was a clown; always making us laugh, and he was always on the edge of trouble and taking several kids with him. When we were youth group counselors, we knew that the extroverted creative rowdy kids needed assistance to get all that energy aimed in a good direction; the opportunities to get in trouble were enormous.

John's Dad Al & stepmom Shannon starting attending church sometime in those years after the tragic death of John's little brother George, who was hit and killed by a car while they were all crossing the street to get to Al's graduation from university. After George's funeral at our church, John's parents discovered the love and comfort of Jesus. They accepted Jesus as Lord, and then came to church regularly. A year or so later, Al's job transferred him to the state of Washington, and they all moved. John finished high school there.

John eventually became a nurse. He currently lives in Seattle with his new wife. I'm not sure when John married the first time, but he wasn't a kid. Their first child was a son, Dylan, born when John was 38. Tragically, Dylan committed suicide two years ago. He was 17. That tragedy put us back in touch with John after Al & Shannon notified us.

Jill, John's daughter, lives in Wenatchee with her mother; she will be a junior in high school when classes begin in a few more weeks. Jill and her dad have made this trip south to California to see some aging aunts and a few cousins in the Riverside and Los Angeles areas. This morning John's cousin, where they were staying, had to leave at 4:00 to get to work, so John and Jill got out before that and started heading north.

Shortly after 8:00, John let us know they were in Morro Bay (that's approximately 5 miles south of us). Mr. Fun gave him our address and within minutes they were at our place. We gave them a quick tour and I secured our two pups, Chloe and Mitzi, in beds in our bedroom, and we all headed to the Sea Shanty restaurant to enjoy breakfast and get reacquainted.

I'm still mulling thru our memories made so many years ago with John. Back then every Wednesday night "jr. high Bible rap" used to happen in our livingroom. Sometimes 35 kids would sit on the carpeted floor and every item of furniture they could get on to participate with their friends. Round the room everyone would take a turn reading a verse aloud. Every week a different six kids would come an hour early to have tacos around our dining table.

Now I'm savoring the moments enjoyed at breakfast this morning . . . gathered at a table.

From Cayucos on
California's Central Coast
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!