Traveling the Rock Road

My Lady and I attended my 40^th class reunion this past weekend. This was very exciting for both us to see old friends from our youthful days, some I haven’t seen since I left high-school and Ohio.  This would be the 8^th gathering of this group since reunions for our class happen every five years. And generally, as a rule, the alumni crowd for these event get smaller as the years grow on, or so I’ve been told.  But there was something special about this time that brought us and many other people together. One gal from the class had a vision of making this the most exciting one yet.

Laura is a sweet lady I’ve known since junior-high days and then later church and we shared in the same music group for a time.  Always looking to be involved in some project, always busy, always chatty, and always smiling.  She’s the kind of gal that doesn’t know a stranger, always quick to make someone comfortable around her.  And if there was a project out there that needed an extra hand, my friend was on it.  So when the challenge came forth to make this reunion something special, good ole Laura was on it.

With the aide of fellow members of the reunion class, she rolled up her sleeves and got down to business working countless hours planning, organizing, calling people and getting everything lined up in hopes that this gala affair would be memorable.  Cutting to the chase I can boldly testify that Laura’s dream for the reunion came true!  People came in from all over the country, some making this the 1^st one that they every attended. Except for a very brief moment of rain, the night went off spectacularly.  The setting on the beach along Lake Erie where this was held was beautiful, the food and entertainment were great and the owner of the facility (who happens to also be an alumnus) was beyond gracious and generous.  Everyone got along great and the night was all Laura had dreamed of–wonderfully memorable now and probably for years to come!

Okay, that’s the great news of the reunion and the weekend.  The downside though, unfortunately, Lady Laura could not be there to enjoy one minute of it; as I write this she is hooked to many lifesaving machines and medicines in a hospital in Toledo.  You see Laura is another Traveler of the Rock Road, she has experienced many trials in her life, the hardest to date, a heart that only works at about 15%.  Over the course of time that precious muscle inside her chest has weakened to where even the simplest tasks could seem like a tremendous workout.  One week before the reunion Laura couldn’t go any farther and found herself being transported by helicopter to where she lies now, in a hospital bed unconscious.

I know what some are thinking; “Now what the heck is someone in that state of condition doing taking on all she did?  She just needed to sit back, let others do and worry about things and stay as quiet as possible in hopes of extending her health.”  All I can say is friend, you don’t know Laura!!  This lady is a doer, especially when it comes to making others happy be it family or friends that she loves so dearly.  I have no doubt if she could, right now my gal pal would tell you that to sit back and humanly stagnate would be worse than anything she could ever think of.  Laura is a doer, not because she has something to prove, but because it brings that one item we all want in life, happiness! Had she been with us this weekend the most she probably would have done was sit, watch others have a good time, and grin from ear to ear.  

There’s also one more matter about Laura that pushes her along when staying idle might have been the wiser for her physical body, she knows her spiritual body is strong and that part of her has a yearning for “Home.”  She told my Cathy and me that last time we spoke, as she told her nurse at the hospital, with her signature grin, “I’m ready to go Home.”  Laura is like myself and many others who have trusted in salvation through Jesus Christ, not a religion, not a philosophy, theory or concept, but a genuine love and trust for the One who tells us He loves us more than we can imagine and has something special waiting ahead; not death, but Life; awesome!

There’s an old hymn that has this chorus; “But I know Whom I have believèd,

And am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed Unto Him against that day.”  Friends and Neighbors, that is Lady Laura.  She has chosen to live life to the fullest she can because she’s convinced the next chapter just gets better and better–Wow!!

The way Laura lives her life also reminds me of a C.S. Lewis saying that I believe describes this precious child; I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

A finally verses I know she knows all too well and cherishes; “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:1-4

Yes, she prepared a party she couldn’t attend, but some 150 plus had an awesome time; that I know would bring out that grin of hers in a heartbeat.  I don’t know what tomorrow brings for Laura, I like so many others want to see her well again and leave that hospital bed once more, but if that is not to be this warrior is prepared, not for an end, but for a new beginning that starts with the most kickin “Welcome Home Laura Party” that you could every imagine.  She’ll be dressed and ready to ROCK!  How ‘bout that, no matter what happens, she wins!!!!

Love You, Lady Laura!!!!!!!!