Kathy and I when we were toddlers with her Mom. I’m the “older” girl 🙂
Our mothers were nursing school friends and that meant Kathy and I were friends too as they, of course, arranged our social schedules. Little girls don’t pick up the phone and arrange play dates.
I have a few memories of times together then her family left Quincy for sunny Arizona for a better climate for her dad’s health. At six years old, we too young to write letters and besides, busy making new friends.
Later, Kathy wrote notes to my mom who was her godmother. and called a couple of times a year too. My mom would always fill me in on what she was doing but she and I still had no communication. Apparently, her family visited in 1965, but I was too caught up in my early adolescence and the Beach Boys to remember.
A few years back, I took my mother to visit Kathy’s mom in Arizona where they had a wonderful reunion. Friends for the 70 year journey Mom told me she told Kathy all about it in one of their phone calls. I was happy they were still in touch.
Then my mom had a stroke on the 4th of July last year. Not life-threatening but definitely life-changing.
Once we settled into the “new normal,” I thought of Kathy from time to time and knew she would wonder why she wasn’t hearing from my mom. I would have contacted her but had no idea where she lived, just “out west” somewhere. Not a great starting point.
As Christmas grew closer, so did my urgency to locate Kathy. Then the most amazing thing happened…
My daughters and I visited Quincy a couple of days after Christmas and as I walked into mom’s house, where she no longer lives, I mindlessly pulled open her mailbox. Not a big deal, right, but after the July stroke, her mail no longer came to this address. Ever. The mailbox was always empty.
Until today.
The mail carrier made a stop that day to my mom’s mailbox to deliver a Christmas card from Kathy with her Utah address prominently displayed. I did a happy dance on the porch and told my girls the story.
After the holidays, I wrote her and she promptly responded. Our adult relationship was taking seed from the vestiges of the past, we had a lot to catch up on. I never dreamed we would meet again.
We did.
In March, we realized I was flying out of Phoenix and Kathy was flying into Phoenix the same day. Five hours separated our flights but we both knew we had to make this happen now or never.
We texted each other selfies for recognition. She waited a few hours at the airport, I arrived a couple of hours early.
After our hugs, our lovely reunion lunch lasted hours. I finally had to pull away to catch my plane. A most delicious time in every aspect.
Old friends reunited at the Phoenix airport!
What are the odds of a longing, a letter and a lunch coming together in three months after sixty years of no contact? This story will show up in the book I hope to write about how God showed up and amazed me, time after time.
Kathy and I still write letters, and email and text and have a way to go in piecing together the missing years of our friendship but we’re having a great time filling in the blanks.
Missing an old friend? Keep your eyes open, anything can happen!
Hope for the best,
Tish
Hope for the Best 