A Simple Call - Part One

Have you ever noticed how quickly life can change?  In a matter of seconds, a person can go from laughing to crying, from anger to relief, from relaxed to tension filled.  Life can seem like it’s in no particular hurry, but in a flash things spin out of control.  Sometimes that change can begin with a simple phone call.  As I look back in my life, maybe the phone calls weren't the time at which the change occurred; maybe they were just the catalyst for events to come.

I didn’t feel like my life would change in any particular way that Sunday afternoon.  I received a phone call from an old family friend; she was in town for the week and wanted to take me to dinner that night. I was living in Kansas City at the time and Chris worked as a disaster relief supervisor for the Red Cross.  By Labor Day weekend of 1993, the bulk of the Mid-West was under water.  She had a limited amount of free time, so her dinner plans had to be made at the spur of the moment.  I wasn’t going to pass up a free steak dinner, so I eagerly agreed.

Chris was one of those people that you never quite knew what to expect.  She lived life by the seat of her pants.  Chris’s heart was always in the right place, even if her head wasn’t.  As a result, she had made some really bad decisions; when I think about it, her life up to that point would have made a compelling reality show.  Chris was warm and compassionate and she had always been a great listener, which was great at times when my teenage self really needed a different perspective.  Although she was a good listener, she loved to hear herself talk even more.  She liked to give out this really deep, sage advice.  Sometimes her advice would be dead on, but other times, I felt like she was just doling out fortune cookie wisdom.  Chris did have one trait though that stood out above all others; she was one of the most generous people I had ever met.

Generosity may have been her gift, but being a detective should have been her calling.  She was good, too good for my peace of mind.  Butterflies started to churn in my stomach as I prepared for the evening out. The preceding three years of my life had been very complicated and I really didn’t want to delve into that mess, but I knew in my heart that at some point I would be interrogated about what had happened.  Like I said, she was good and if I didn’t prepare in advance, I’d find myself blabbering on about things I didn’t really want to discuss.  I was determined to enjoy the evening and to stay resolved to not disclose anything.  I kept chatting with myself in the mirror and the mirror had the nerve to waggle her finger at me, warning me to keep my mouth shut and just smile and nod.  I think the mirror was skeptical about my listening skills.

Chris arrived late in the afternoon.  She had a friend with her, someone whose name I couldn’t even begin to remember.  As Chris stood in my living room, the thought struck me that she seemed to be timeless.  She was this tall, slim, imposing woman, whose voice just boomed across a room.  She hadn’t changed a bit and oddly I took great comfort in that fact.  Her hug was warm and friendly.  Between the warm welcome and the equally warm hug, I felt guilty that my thoughts had been somewhat traitorous.  I wanted to stay in that hug for a while; it felt like a safe and protected place.  Some good things must come to an end and if we were going to get to the restaurant in time we needed to be on our way.

(To be continued........tomorrow.....)