Friends

Friday
We were out for dinner this evening at our friends, John and Ellen. I first met Ellen when we first came to the States back in 1979. I took a job as Assistant Cataloguer at Lane Public Library in Hamilton, and she was my immediate boss - Head of Cataloguing. She was single back then, and a committed Christian, and we soon became firm friends, and have remained so ever since. In fact, since my sister is so far away, she has become almost like a substitute sister for me. She left her job in Hamilton, and moved to the University of West Virginia in Morgantown in about 1984, and then we moved to France in 1986. We kept in touch, though I have to admit Ellen was better at corresponding than I was. We met up once during our ten years in France, when we were back for a weeks visit, and it was as if we'd never been apart. Then shortly after our return to the States in 1996, I received a letter from her, beginning something like this, "You may want to sit down for this one...", informing me that she was going to be getting married - for the first time, at age 50! This also meant that she was returning to the Cincinnati area, as that was where John, her husband to be, was living. She had known John (also a very committed Christian) back in their college days, but then they had gone their separate ways. John had married and had two sons, but unfortunately had lost his wife a few years previously to cancer. John and Ellen met up again, and things went from there. When they got married, John's youngest son and his wife were about to have a baby, so Ellen went from being single to being a wife, "mother" and "grandmother" in a matter of months! It was a great adjustment for her, but she has grown into her role wonderfully, and despite the busy life they lead - they now have four grandchildren, three of them fairly local, she is still a wonderful friend. We had a lovely evening together - she is a great cook - and afterwards we had a game of Boggle. I'm certainly going to miss her as we return to France for a few more years in July, but at least now we have e-mail and Skype and can easily send photos electronically, and we're hoping that maybe they'll be able to pay us a visit!