Reminiscing Roommates

I circled the date on my calendar with a smile.

My roommate from college called, asking if she and her mom could stop by on their way home from New England. Needless to say, I welcomed the chance to see them again and catch up. 

Ruby Wagner Dorm

I gave the house an extra shine, ran to the grocery store so I could put together a nice lunch, and wondered if Deb had as much gray as I saw in the mirror lately. Visions of the campus and our room in Ruby Wagner Dorm that I hadn't thought of in years ran through my mind in the hours before their arrival. She had majored in Accounting and I in Religious Education. How could thirty-seven years have gone by since we graduated? 

Our time together brought out old stories. We remembered our other roommates and wondered what courses their lives had taken. We reminisced and laughed together, seeing it all from a different perspective. Interestingly enough, neither one of us could remember actually meeting even though we roomed together for three years.

As Deb backed the car out of our driveway later that afternoon to head west,  it seemed ironic to me that both she and I walk alone now. As two young girls in love and married right out of college, we never gave the possibility of "singleness" a thought. We wanted to "live happily ever after," serving the Lord. And we did--for a while.

But life doesn't always turn out the way we hope and dream. It brings its own challenges and heartaches. Yet the thing that struck me was that we were both doing okay in spite of our pain and disappointment. I saw in my friend what Eugene Peterson calls "a long obedience in the same direction," a strong faith in God and a determination not to let the hard times bring defeat.

As I washed up the lunch dishes, I thanked God for our forty-year friendship. Somehow we gather courage when we know we're not alone in our circumstances. We'll keep in touch, Deb and I . . . and I have a feeling our paths will cross more often.



 *Unlabelled photos from bing.com/images