Thankful for Friends

It is difficult to lose friends, but we are so glad that we haven't had to live life without lots of wonderful friends. Today in the state of Kentucky, Chuck Cooper, a dear friend was buried. We remember and celebrate him, not because he died, but because he lived.
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Remembering ~~

Six years ago today, Roger Rickson, another dear friend had died. Three weeks earlier when we had been notified that Roger was terribly ill, Mr. Fun stopped by Roger's house, but found no one home, then connected with him the next week. Roger had been diagnosed with liver cancer. As the two of them sat talking, Mr. Fun had no clue that Roger would be gone in less than two weeks.

My first memory of Roger takes me back to 1964 and the parking lot of the local high school. It was summer and the drill team had one position to fill. It was the afternoon of try-outs, and Mr. Rickson, the band teacher, would make the selection. The drill team position went to my good friend at the time, Darlene. Her performance that August afternoon was not stellar, but her history was better than the rest of us; she had been on the jr. high drill team in 8th and 9th grades, and Roger knew it. I wasn't invited to march with the drill team; however, my path would crisscross with Roger's numerous times in the next 39 years as we marched the same sidewalks as friends and colleagues.

A dozen years after that drill team try-out, our paths connected again. By that time Roger had transitioned to the local community college to instruct music and Mr. Fun & I found ourselves attending the same church with Roger. The three of us were the bookends for the youth ministry.

Roger was the volunteer director of the college group and we were the volunteer directors of the jr. high group. For several years our lives were entwined as we all served God together leading teenagers of every size, shape, and personality. We'd converse together in the youth department meetings and laugh about the shenanigans of the teens and marvel at the miracles God was performing in their lives. Somewhere during that time our sidewalk forked and our path and Roger's became distant.

Roger no longer attended church with us, but the annual December mail kept us in touch. Then in 1985 as a re-entry student, I strolled the corridors of the community college and stayed busy counting units and earning a degree. From time-to-time I would have the pleasure of seeing Roger on campus before I transferred to the university. Then in 1991 Roger and I became colleagues when I followed in his footsteps and accepted a fulltime teaching position there. He was teaching students to make a message with music and I would be teaching them to make a song with written syllables. The first time I saw Roger after being awarded my job, it was obvious he had been cheering for me from the sidelines and his encouragement inspired me.

My employment led me immediately to the newest campus of the college. So I was pleased when several years later Roger came to that campus a couple days a week to teach music. Even after his retirement, Roger continued to teach there part-time. We often connected near the photocopy machine for a quick update on each other's lives. Those were always pleasurable moments as our voices spoke about the immediate and our eyes told each other's history. We always sent each other Christmas cards.

In January 2001, with great concern Roger stopped me in the campus parking lot. He had read in our holiday letter about the severe year we had experienced. He was visually saddened, but he had enough life experience to offer me words of hope. He was always an encourager. Right there in the parking lot, he struck-up the band. Roger knew that what looked like a dead-end to us was a T-intersection; he was confident that God would take us on a right turn to new and wonderful opportunities.

So that last time Mr. Fun visited with Roger in his living room, they gave each other their personal update. Roger heard first-hand about the ways our life had transitioned and Mr. Fun heard the details about Roger's illness. But more than that, he asked Roger how he was doing with spiritual matters. Roger shared that his relationship with God was fine. Friends like Roger and Chuck are some of the people who cause us to look forward to the other side of life.
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Today I wanted to honor the memory of Roger. If you've read this far, thanks; I'm too wordy and I apologize. I haven't gotten much commenting done today; I'll do better tomorrow.

from Southern California,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol