May 2018
This Journey!
04 May 2018 @ 21:14
William Butler Yeats once wrote, ‘There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.’ How true those words have been in my life journey. I want to thank all of my friends who took the time to send me a birthday greeting on Tuesday, May 1st. A week earlier Deb and I had set out for Columbia, SC where I had the opportunity to visit with a number of my Camp KEMO family and meet many new friends during and after visits into Palmetto Richland Hospital. I was blessed to become a part of this incredible group in 1989 and have been leading music at the camp and visiting this hospital ever since. This current visit included two days, Thursday and Friday, with children and families in the hospital and clinic and culminated with me providing music for the cancer center’s annual memorial service on Sunday. On Saturday evening I had an acoustic gig at a place called Za’s on Devine, an Italian restaurant in Columbia, which had been set up by another Camp KEMO friend. Thanks, Reggie! We were blessed to have our niece Cassie and her son Ethan travel from Charleston to join us for the evening, along with so many friends from the Columbia area. Another camp friend traveled from Charleston and friends that I first met at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who now live in Aiken, SC also made the journey. Deb and I have often talked about the fact that so many of my friends in this wonderful life have been made in the midst of some of life’s darkest moments. These friends have allowed me to join them on the ride at a time when you would think people wouldn’t want to be bothered. I don’t take any of these friendships for granted. I wish I could take the time to personally write to each and every one of you to thank you for what you have added to my life through your friendship. Because of you, my friends, I am a wealthy man. The day of my birthday found us back on the road, returning home, and that meant that I didn’t have a lot of time to actually read your messages until after we got back to Danville and got temporarily settled. I’ll explain the temporary part in a bit. I can only say that I am humbled by all of your greetings and messages. C. S. Lewis wrote, “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out.” How true. Each of you in your own way has helped to make me the person that I am. I would be so much less without each and every one of you.
Okay, so now about the temporarily settled part. I couldn’t imagine a better time to be had around one’s birthday but I knew this year would be an exception. Our daughter-in-law, Heather, and our son Matthew were awaiting the birth of their first child and our second grandchild. The due date was today, May 4th but this little bundle of joy couldn’t wait. On Thursday, May 3rd our granddaughter Lillian Elena Wolfe entered the world and our lives. This is going to be a hard birthday to top. Thanks again everyone but now we’ve got to get back on the road. We have a granddaughter to meet!
Okay, so now about the temporarily settled part. I couldn’t imagine a better time to be had around one’s birthday but I knew this year would be an exception. Our daughter-in-law, Heather, and our son Matthew were awaiting the birth of their first child and our second grandchild. The due date was today, May 4th but this little bundle of joy couldn’t wait. On Thursday, May 3rd our granddaughter Lillian Elena Wolfe entered the world and our lives. This is going to be a hard birthday to top. Thanks again everyone but now we’ve got to get back on the road. We have a granddaughter to meet!