Brenda’s Blog – June 17, 2025
“What has become clearer to you since last we met?”
Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were great friends. Their times together often left great gaps in time. When they saw each other their greeting to each was “what has become clearer to you since last we met?” Isn’t that a marvelous question? Indeed better than “Wha’s happenin?”
Their greeting presumes each has invested time thinking about ideas, doesn’t it?
In our age of mobility we often lose track of friends. Platforms like Facebook enable us to reestablish virtually, but too often face to face is lacking. The experience of sitting down with old acquaintances, associates, and even family members is both pleasurable and meaningful.
When I took a promotion and moved to Iowa my job involved regular travel. For the first thirteen months I spent the weekend wherever the work ended on Fridays. I laid out a schedule of high school, college, and country-wide friends calling it my Sentimental Journey. I invited them to meet me for a cup of coffee and a “catch up.” It literally filled my relationship tank!
Two long-term local friends and I met for lunch yesterday. Of course the conversation turned to children and grands. “I get texts weekly and sometimes daily from my daughter, but if I call I get one word answers and a hurried ‘Bye, Mom!’”
A Facebook blog carries the title “The importance of Mother/Daughter trips.” As a mom and sister who is blessed to have fond memories of road trips, bucket list fulfillments, and discoveries of delicious desserts I know the critical nature of these excursions. There is nothing like time in the car together for free conversations, silly laughter, and warm hugs. It is even a proper way to find out what has become clearer to another!
A recent article encouraged readers to say thank you to those who had contributed to their lives. Parents, siblings, teachers, pastors, and employers were high on the list. As an octogenarian most of those deserving of my gratitude are no longer alive. I sadly wish I could tell my band director or choir teacher how music has been a stabilizer for all my life. The pastor who modeled grace and peace when a selfish family ignited a church split certainly would be on my list. Employers who believed in me and “saw something” will always be critical pieces of my story. If those on your list are still alive, don’t wait! Say thank you; tell them they made a difference. That is the best catchup of all!