Dazed and Confused

That’s the name of the band I went to see last night. My best friend from high school turned 60 and her friend Lisa, owner of a real live Texas beer joint, decided to throw her a birthday party. I didn’t go for the beer or joint; I went because this friend will always be special to me, no matter how many miles or years separate our visits.

Teresa looks just looks like she did in high school – same platinum blonde hair, same pretty blue eyes, same great smile with a heart as big as Texas. We’ve both added a few pounds over four decades and aging has brought its health issues, but for these few sweet hours we were just two good friends catching up and enjoying each other’s company. To add to the treat, one of the band members was none other than our own BB Starr, who has been a fun person and talented performer since high school. He and his partner in crime, Evelyn the yodeling cowgirl, did not disappoint.

I asked Teresa if she kept up with the others in our small close knit group from back then. Her reply was still hanging in the air when in walked Clyde, then Toby. The ‘band’ was back together, almost (I suspect Chuck is still in his Colorado mountains). Some of us are married, some are not, most have kids and grands; some are still working, some are retired. But we all fondly remember our time together. We listened to Bob sing and play tunes from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s – everything from David Bowie to the Stones to Hendrix and of course his beloved Beatles – and Cowgirl belted out some great Patsy Cline songs. My mom, sister and Pastor Randy of 1st Methodist church were there for a while too. They knew each other well back in the day – such fun to see my friends greet my family after all these years. I’m glad they got to meet Randy. He likes to give people who don’t have a regular church family a visible reminder that God loves them.

At one point Clyde turned to me and asked, “Didn’t your sister used to have brown hair?” “Didn’t we all?” I laughed, considering his gray and my own highlights. Clyde says we aren’t growing older, we are growing wiser. I know that is true for me. I changed in many ways after high school but the beginning of wisdom was coming to know God. Some would say I ‘found religion’, and maybe that was what it looked like in the early days of my transformation. But as I got to know Jesus what I experienced was relationship, not religion. Real relationship, the kind that gives meaning and purpose to life on earth. It is an awesome thing to personally know the Creator/Sustainer of the universe, the very definition of Love, the Author of free will with its blessings for obedience and its consequences for our rebellious choices, the One who made us each uniquely hard-wired with the things we love – Teresa’s gift of friendship and generosity, Clyde’s talent for creating art from metal, Toby’s philosophical brain, my writing. God has a plan for each of us, all we have to do is get wise and get in on it.

A birthday party isn’t a birthday party without singing Happy Birthday, which we all did but none as well as Bob. Birthday girl even got to join the band for one song where she amazed us with her rhythm Maracas playing. When the evening ended there were hugs all around, and that lingering that happens when you aren’t quite ready to let the moment go. Teresa said she felt blessed to have such wonderful friends. We all are. Dazed and Confused may have been our status in high school, but the word for this season of our lives is Blessed.

Happy Birthday, dear friend.