Digging Deep

I pulled up to the senior home with both kayaks strapped atop the car. I leave them up there since we kayak every chance we get in the summer. My old friends Comer and Evelyn were sitting on the porch waiting for me, beside a sleeping lady with an oxygen tank hooked to her. Comer glanced at the car, and then did a double take when he saw me wave.
As he and Evelyn shuffled slowly over, big smiles on their faces, a concerned aide from the Alzheimer unit came running from the home.
"Where are you taking them?" he asked.
"Kayaking, " I said, nudging my 93 year old friend, "How's that sound, Comer?"
"That sounds fine," he laughed.
"Nah, I'm taking them out for a long awaited steak dinner. Would you like that better?" I asked Evelyn.
"That would be nice!" she said.

The aide patted Evelyn's hand as she settled in my car.
"She's my favorite," he said, "We sing together."
He began singing "Zippety do dah!" and Evelyn eagerly joined in. They hit line 4 and then stopped.
"We never get any further," he said, "We can't remember the words."
"Mr. Bluebirds on my shoulder," I sang, and Evelyn sparkled as she joined in remembering, "It's the truth, it's factual, everything is satisfactual, zippity doo da, zippity aye, wonderful feeling, wonderful day!"
"Wow," said the aide ,"You should volunteer here."

As I got in the car I held up the 50's music CD, "How about some music, Evelyn?"
"I don't like music," she said.
I turned to look at her.
"Don't give me that," I told her, "You love music."
She began singing zippidy doo dah again.

For months, Comer had been telling me how he longed for a steak dinner. Evelyn's condition had been so fragile that I had been hesitant to do anything but take them sightseeing in the car while eating fast food take out. It became our little nugget of ritual hope that when I dropped them off, we would say, "One day we will go to a restaurant and have a real steak dinner!"

So today I had planned a half hour drive to Lake Wylie to a restaurant on the water. We would eat on the outside patio deck right on the sparkling lake, with ducks trolling for food next to us. The restaurant specialized in TBone steaks. I had called ahead to be sure they could serve us quickly as my old friends could not be out too long without great fatigue.

As we sat down, Evelyn was beaming the entire time. She looked happily at the ducks next to the dock. The waitress bought the menus and I told them, "The print is pretty fine, but I can read to you the steak choices."
"I don't believe I will have steak," said Comer.
I blinked at him.
"How about you, Evelyn? Would you like to hear the steak choices?"
"She doesn't like steak," said Comer.
"I want the chicken club," said Evelyn.

As we ate, Comer was recounting some of the jobs he had held in his life.
"Do you know Olan MIlls?" he asked.
Everyone knows Olan Mills. They are probably the most famous portrait studio in the nation. They are everywhere.
"I worked for Olan," he said, "Before he ever had a store even."
"The person Olan?!" I exclaimed.
"Yep, me and one other guy were his first sales crew in Alabama."
"OH my! What else did you do?"
"I was a Golden Glove boxer. Pretty good in my area. Do you know Rocky Marciano?"
"No.... I think I have heard of him."
"Greatest boxer of his time. They tried to set me up to fight him, but I said no way."
"Like the Rocky movie!" I said, laughing.
"But I made the most money playing poker."
"Poker?"
"Yes. When I was in the army I won $50-$60,000 playing poker. The FBI came out and put a $2500 cap on our games when they got wind of it."
"Evelyn, did you know he was a gambler?"
She smiled nodding, "Yes, a gambler....."
"Did you ever get in trouble....?"
"Oh, I never did anything wrong.Once," said Comer, "When the war was over and we were on the train coming home, we were having a big celebration, playing poker. One soldier kept winning time after time. And then we caught him cheating. So I picked that soldier up and I threw him off the train."
"You just said you never did anything wrong!!! You threw someone off a train!?"
"I mean, I never did anything criminal."
"Throwing someone off a train!"
"Well, it wasn't going very fast...."
"Evelyn, did you know Comer threw someone off a train?"
She smiled and chuckled, " Oh dear...."
"So what attracted you to him in the first place," I asked, "This gambler who threw people off trains?"
"He was......weird," she said, struggling for the right word.
"I quit gambling then," said Comer, "By the time I knew her. But we both played poker. She is a great blackjack player."
Evelyn nodded, giggling, "Yes, black jack."

As we drove home after dropping our friends back at their Senior Home, Asherel and I were discussing the various events she could choose from for next year's Science Olympiad.
"In the end," I told her, "It doesn't really matter which event you choose. If you go deeply enough into any subject, you will be fascinated. It is only when we do overviews, surface understanding that things are boring."
And I realized that the relationship we have developed with Comer and Evelyn is becoming likewise more fascinating each day we see them. The layers of their lives that they slowly reveal always surprise, always amaze, and always entertain. What a colorful kaleidoscope of living history my old friends are!

We also prayed together for dear sister Amy, lanquishing for week number two in the hospital with her second bout of pancreatitis in a month. News had seemed so dire, so depressing the day before and Amy seemed so down and discouraged. When we got back, I called her. The doc had been in and not only had she been moved from ice chip diet to a liquid diet with jello and italian ices, but the doc felt she would be able to go home, maybe very soon. He felt that in all likelihood, the cyst on her pancreas was best left alone for now, and any procedure could likely wait for a few weeks. He felt there was little danger to her, and gave a tentative clearing of her hopeful plans to still attend my son's wedding in July. And she was bubbly happy with a beautiful bouquet that same son, Matt, and his fiancee Karissa had sent to her cheerless hospital room.

I know many many friends have been praying for her, and my heart is so warmed by the outpouring of love and concern. Another sweet friend will be taking Asherel to her home on the afternoons I will be in Texas helping Amy. And my folks offered money to fly Asherel out if that was better for me.

In my Bible reading that morning, I came across one of my favorite verses, Philippians 4:13. It captured my day perfectly:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."