One second and forty-five years. It only took one second to drop the cream pitcher that broke this plate. It’s irreplaceable, really. But I’ll tell you about that in a minute. First, I want to tell you about how mending can take forty-five years to complete.

When I was a young girl, I was already broken in many ways before I got to high school. Childhood sexual abuse and an alcoholic father took a toll on me long before I graced the halls of Parkersburg High School. Come to find out, I wasn’t alone. The rigors of adolescence plays havoc with our world view. At least it did with mine. I was inwardly quite shy and insecure. There were perceived slights, teasing, bullying…few of us escaped that brand of pain.

This class reunion was remarkable in many ways. It was pretty chill. Till the last two hours. Then it happened. Everyone let their hair down…or what was left of it. We danced with wild abandon. We laughed till we cried. We walked up to people who wouldn’t have given us the time of day or we secretly loved from afar and held on. There were surprises at every turn. There was gentleness and love. Genuine caring and respect. There was mending…of relationships, of inner turmoil…an acknowledgement of more similarities than differences because of our common bond of cultural, emotional, and educational experiences. There was a sort of collective sigh of relief that we’re not dead yet so bring on the party!!! In other words, I’d have to say, this was a successful reunion. And, the richness of Facebook will keep us reaching out to one another.

Now, the plate. Yesterday morning, we had a lovely gathering of the ’71 Divas for coffee at my lifelong family friend’s house in the historic district. I was doing dishes at the end of the event and dropped a creamer onto a plate…breaking it. Then, I found out it had belonged to our hostess’ mother who recently passed away at 101. As a matter of fact, it had been a wedding gift. I felt horrid. I spent a good portion of the day scouring the Internet for a replacement. Some things break and need replacing. And sometimes they just need a lot of time and life experience to mend themselves.

❤️

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

Psalm 91:11-13