May 8, 2010.

Last evening at the cinema I work part-time at, we showed a Christian based movie Letters to God. I've been working for about 3 weeks on getting this movie for the cinema to show. I kind of went out on a limb with this movie. There are very few Christian movies made, and even fewer that make it to your local theater and do well. It's kind of sad, really. But, we did get this one and I got informational packets from the producer and I passed them on to as many churches as I could. That and word of mouth, I really hoped a lot of people would come. The movie has a wonderful message.

But, my post today is not really about the movie. Last night at the cinema we did have a good first night turnout. One person who came in was an old friend who my husband and I had not seen in many months. Her and her husband were good friends of ours from when we lived in Lansing, Illinois. We all attended the Methodist church there. This couple are extra special people. After Chris accident, when he needed to be driven to Northwester Hospital every day for several weeks because of his damaged eye....Dennis stepped in to help. I do not drive in the city, plus I needed to return to work. He was on disability so not working, so he volunteered to be Chris chauffeur during this time. He would not let us give him any money for gas. When Chris had his surgery, they drove both of us to the hospital and stayed with me that whole long day. You will never meet two nicer people.

They moved to the Morocco area about six months before we moved here to Rensselaer. Over the last 6 years, we have not kept in real close touch. We seem them occasionally around town..bumping into them at restaurants or stores. Dennis has occasionally come into the restaurant we used to own.

Last fall, he popped in there early one day. It was before we had even opened for that day. When I first saw him that day, I thought something looked different. He was not his usually jovial self...very reserved. Him and Chris sat down and talked for a good hour before Chris asked me to join them. Dennis had come in to let us know he was very sick. Cancer, but he did not go into specifics. I asked him how serious it was, and his reply...pretty serious. Even though he did not say it, I had a feeling it was so serious that his time on earth was short. We all chatted for a bit longer, and then he stood up to leave. We hugged him and promised to keep in touch.

But, we didn't. Ever since that day, I have often thought...we need to call on them. But, I didn't. I think partly because I was afraid and didn't know what to say. I have difficulty offering others words of comfort when someone is sick and dying. I tend to avoid dealing with those types of things.

Last evening, Dennis wife shows up at the cinema with a friend. We had never seen her there before and it was such a wonderful surprise. She had no idea we worked there. After laughs and smiles that goes with seeing someone you haven't seen in awhile, I gave her a hug and asked her how Dennis was doing. Her reply was, not good. She began to cry and we hugged some more.

After the movie, we talked a little more. I promised her we would keep in touch...and I mean it this time. We wanted to go visit them today, but she said if he was having a good day today they were going to go visit their son.

That day last fall when he stopped in at the restaurant to share his sad news with us...it almost seemed to me like he was saying his goodbye to us. I was grateful to learn last evening that we do still have time to see him and to say our own goodbyes to him. Death is not an easy thing, but hiding from it as I have done is not a good thing either.