Just the Other Night.......

I have reconnected with many of the kids I taught and many of the people who grew up with me, through Facebook, and it seems to be one reward after another. But there are a few people who were very pivotal for me that I'm still hoping will wind up on my facebook list. One is the point guard I coached who was in Jennifer's class and I know is in Long Beach somewhere but as far as I know is not on facebook.. Well, last night through a friend referral, I reconnected with the girl who was probably responsible for 90% of the drama in my life between the ages of 17-20. I was convinced that I had found the girl with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Problem was, most of our interaction involved working out her problems with her boyfriend at the time, a boy that always seemed to be among my best friends. We wrote often during that time, while she was still home and I was in Pasadena, and one of our conventions was to insert the name of the song title that was playing while we were composing the letter. (Example: "So I had ("Monday, Monday") breakfast this morning."). I held onto those letters for a long time after we were married, not to Jan's detriment, but to preserve a historical record of some of the major events of my young life.
Then I met Jan, we got engaged and married, and this young lady wound up getting married a short time before we did. After that we pretty much lost touch, except for a couple of run-ins at hometown (Central California) events. Once cliche says you never forget your first love, and every time I went to the town where I grew up, there was usually an event or location that took me back to those bittersweet years. When Garth Brooks finally got around to singing, "Unanswered Prayers," I realize that song pretty much summed up my feelings.
There is a certain amount of irony in that we are going through a series at church entitled, "I have a Friend Who...." and the 5th in that series will be one about not believing in answered prayer. We probably all know people who are bitter towards God because their prayers have gone unanswered, or at least not answered to their specifications. The Garth song reminds us that the unanswered ones can be one of His greatest gifts. A union of this young lady and me would have probably been an unmitigated disaster. "I look at my wife, and then and there I thank the good Lord for the gifts in my life."
So, even though I really don't have the desire to know what my life would have been like if this girl had felt the way I did, she was a big enough part of my life for me to want to know, "how she turned out." Well, now I know, and the answer appears to be, "very well, thank you."
She and her husband are still married, which means they are also approaching their 40th anniversary this year, they have a 2-year-old grandson who, strangely enough, appears to be the light of their life.
In all my wildest dreams, I never thought our lives would get reconnected to the point where we would be sharing stories and pictures of our grandkids. Thanks, again, facebook--and to her classmate Gayle who let me know as soon as she was on facebook.
They say that if you truly love someone, then their happiness is every bit as important as your own. Well, I'm ecstatic that her life has turned out so well. And I'm sure she feels the same way about mine.
(For you who know your 60s music, she was the girl "with sunlight in her hair.")