We were recently in a social setting and had an opportunity to visit with a couple the General and I knew from long ago. We went to the same church and were in the same Sunday School department. We also knew the wife's brother and sister-in-law. They, too, were in that department.
The visit spurred my memory of our early years in Austin. The General and I both worked for the Texas Department of Public Welfare. We didn't work in the same offices, but we commuted to work together because our offices were in close proximity.
A network of friends filtered into our lives through both work and church. Craig was a preschooler at the time. That was so long ago. I remember that traffic in Austin was not a problem and there were no long commutes from home to work. Austin was a big country town, and you could see the State Capitol from any direction that brought you into Austin.
We bought a home in the Castlewood neighborhood in South Austin. It was a small neighborhood just outside the city toward Manchaca, and it seemed like the perfect place to put down roots and live happily ever after. I almost laughed out loud when I wrote that. We have lived in many places since we moved into our first forever home.
We loved our home, our jobs and our church. That being said, within a year and a half, we sold our home and bought a new home a couple of blocks away in the same neighborhood. A year and a half later, I was presented an opportunity to serve as pastor of Henly Baptist Church, the other side of Dripping Springs. I had initially gone to college with the intent of one day serving as pastor of a church. In the interim, I got involved in child-welfare work and was now provided an opportunity to do both at the same time. How could it get any better than that? It couldn't.
At any rate, getting back to the couple, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to visit. They coincidentally were invited to the same Christmas party the General and I were attending. The husband and I sat outside at a table on the covered porch that had been surrounded by several others. One by one, we were eventually the only people left. Perhaps it didn't occur to either of us that we were staying beyond the time allotted for the party to end.
By the way, we met them in 1977. I went to Henly as pastor in February 1979. If you do the math, that was a very long time ago. It strange how an opportunity to visit with friends from long ago has a way of erasing the gap and putting people back into one's life. That pleases me greatly.
All My Best!
Don
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