Knowing my Spokane life is drawing to a close helps me better understand how wonderful our time here has been. I guess I normally live life with only brief periods of savoring its richness. I now notice as I go to coffee and slip into the friendship, warmth and automatic acceptance of the coffee group. It is a stretch to remember five years ago when we moved here truly knowing only the realtor.
The sense of community in my life is quite strong and it was built in a relatively short time. I can ask Mary Jo —a certified garage sale expert if I have ever met one— to give me some pointers on setting up. She comes and lifts us over the hump. Two others, Dina and Michelle also show up to help. They do this because as friends, we have an interest in each other’s lives; it turned what would otherwise have been a painful sorting task into a fun afternoon. That night, Ray —who is sort of a professional antique store picker— from the coffee group stopped by to help assign value to some of the finer items we were putting out the next day.
Monday nights I have a small group of buddies who get together after Bible study at the local pub/pizza place to have a few beers and sometimes our wives join us. Nowadays I catch myself looking around and recognizing that I am basking in the warmth of pure friendship. We can tease, or discuss serious issues that range from: is Sasquatch real, to parenting teenagers, to partial differential equations. Monday nights have come to be a highlight of my week, even more so as they draw to a close.
I have been blessed with a life rich in relationships, and as I stand on the brink of great physical distance between my daily life and my Spokane friends, it makes this dwindling time all the more poignant.
