Scribe

Scribe; there’s a word I seldom hear or use. Actually it’s an apt description of one of my versatile wife’s many talents. My admiration of her skills started somewhere about the period when I worked for her when she was editor-in-chief of our high school newspaper (I think it was called the Defender). That held true even after she fired me for going to lunch instead of coming to a meeting (or two or three…).



Over the years my wife has chronicled things as they occur on small pieces of paper and sometimes index cards. Few if any are in a digital format. Recently she brought out the lists, now weathered by time, of things we’ve shared and been thankful for over the past thirty years. The first item on the list was a “brand new” picnic table purchased during some challenging times. It was difficult to see anything else on the lists for a while. The lists go on and on but probably have little meaning for others. Things like taking down a television antenna and getting cable, paying off a baby doctor in full, moving into a station wagon while the rest of the world advanced to minivans, taking a “real” overnight vacation, and the healing of many broken bones. Things like finally being able to do some repairs and maintenance on our property, and being able to purchase health insurance after navigating for years without it. The lists go on and on.


For much of the past year, I am privileged to serve on a small intimate assessment team to help nurture and support a couple in a new pioneering venture. The provided tools have been amazing and quite insightful for all of us but especially for me. One tool is a “life time-line” (my term). It’s difficult to describe but it is a chart-like chronicle of significant life events on one side and often correlating effects on the other. It’s been fascinating to follow this couple individually and collectively through their charted life’s journey and to see the pain and the blessing correlated. Through the unfolding of their historical saga I could now see how this couple was being woven together into a valuable cord to support many others. Yes, I am sure there were times when it would have been logically easier to start over but these results cannot be purchased, assimilated, or replicated without the process of patience and endurance.


Increasingly, even though I am not personally “into it,” I’m developing a growing admiration for the artful skills of a new breed practicing an old art form called “scrap booking.” Most recently I delighted in following the elaborate scrap book photo journalism of cherished family members in upstate New York. Another gifted relative chronicles my wife’s family with her skillful scanning and design. She always brings her camera and now her computer and scanner to family events. A special nephew documents the family’s history in written form even to the extent of checking out tombstones in distant areas. I am a “vested” member of the family and have been for forty-one years of marriage. I’ve had ample opportunity to see the fruit of all this toil. It’s impressive to say the least. There is a bond and closeness that I seldom see anywhere else and folks are genuinely interested in me and each other as we take every opportunity to share the markers of our heritage.


Perhaps these ramblings haven’t been as coherent as I’d like. However, I’d like to encourage you to take time to record and reflect your life events, especially those you’ve shared with significance folks in your life. I want you to be able to experience something similar to what I felt reading those little slips of paper from decades ago when I was reminded that we were blessed with a “brand new” picnic table. The yellowing paper itself isn’t significant and the picnic table only weathered twenty years or so. What is significant is that, perhaps unknowingly, my wife’s diligence was an investment in our growing mutual bonding through the pains and blessing of our shared life and values. Who could have guessed that someday that little paper would be so valuable? It is the catalyst for us to lay everything aside and discuss, explore, and treasure the “little” values and experiences that have woven us together into an ever-strengthening cord. Please take time soon to find something significant that helps you explore the precious irreplaceable heritage you share with those you love. I think I can safely assure you that it will serve to polish deeper beyond everyday surface familiarities. This polishing often will reveal a perhaps previously hidden faceted treasure that has grown through the pressures and aging of irreplaceable prolonged relationships. Please take time to relive and savor moments with someone special soon.