Are you sitting down?

Are you sitting down? This was a question a friend asked me the other day over the phone. My 99 year old friend. I always called her Aunt Leora even though she isn’t really my aunt. She and my “uncle” Henry (who died a number of years ago) played a significant role in my early days. I would often stay with them, sometimes for weeks at a time. Leora and Henry did that a lot with a lot of kids. When family wasn’t what it was supposed to be, they filled in the gaps, loving generously, and giving ample space for wounded hearts to experience peace and grace, and to discover the truth of who they were. Leora has often told me – “I understood you – others didn’t but I did. I loved you like you were my own and would have you as my own anyday.” My first car was the car she had driven for years but it was really too big for her so I ended up with it (proved to be too big for me, too!)

The pieces of life that were formed in those many times with Aunt Leora and Uncle Henry didn’t all come together until I was much older. I never forgot this amazing couple even as our paths diverged for a lengthy season. I aspired to be like them, though I doubt I will ever fill their shoes.

Now, years later, I have been reunited with Leora. I have had some wonderful conversations with her. If she’s four feet tall and 80 pounds, I would be surprised – not too much to her physically. But measuring her by her spunk…and her faith? She is a giant. She still cleans her own apartment, and lives half the year in Florida and the other half 10 minutes away from me. She used to drive herself to Florida but four years ago she rolled her car. To hear her tell the story you would think she was on a grand adventure that was no big deal, until she admits how terrified she was while waiting to be rescued from her upside-down position.

She never quite got over that accident. She sustained some abdominal injuries that get aggravated every now and then. So when she asked if I was sitting down, my first thought was that she was going to tell me something more serious had developed. She is 99 after all. The body gives out eventually.