Crossing Paths

          I was at the library this morning looking for a movie to check out. The librarian there at the time is a very nice woman whom I visit with whenever she is there. She has helped me get books from outlying areas that I would never see in the regular catalog. We were chatting and in the conversation she mentioned she was living in South Carolina in 1984. I replied I was in San Diego then and how wonderful it is that we are both here in Missouri together some 31 years later.

          This is to me another example of how lives join an extraordinary way. One would think the odds of being 3000 miles apart that we would likely never meet, but it happens a lot. Joyce and I lived just 2 miles away growing up, went to the same places and did not meet until we were near 18. We visit with people at the Oklahoma casino and find there are many people who have lived or were born in California and yet there we are chatting in Oklahoma.

          Two of my best friends of more than 30 years are still in California and two others I met in the navy are, one in New Hampshire and one in Maine, but we still keep in touch over 50 years later. There is a saying I have seen on the internet that goes something like this; some people you meet in life are there for just passing moments, while others are there for a very long time. Each has something to add to your life. I believe that. I thank each of you that has come into my life. It would not be the same without you.