This week Keck had an in office procedure on his big toe. He’s fine and it’s healing nicely, but the whole thing reminded me of my friend Eunice.
Once Eunice repeatedly asked our Sunday School class to pray for her toe. She said it was healing after she had surgery. Concerned, I ask her when she had the surgery and who did it. Eunice was in her eighties when I met her, and she’s been gone now for a few years.
Sheepishly, “Well,” she said in her drawn out way, “I did it myself.”
One doesn’t quite know how to react when someone says something so outrageous. I knew I shouldn’t laugh. Eventually she was fine.
Eunice, according to my mom, looked like a typical Texas woman. Sturdy, strong minded, pretty, and a bundle of energy, she once dressed up in her Sunset Bison pep squad outfit (yes, it still fit and she was in her 80s) and passed out candy at the church trunk or treat.
She joined our Sunday School class because most of her contemporaries had passed away and everyone left wasn’t energetic enough for her. She wanted to be with a more lively group.
There was a photo at Eunice’s funeral service of her out with her family. Unremarkable except for the fact that she had on an orange life jacket and was in the front of the boat on white water rapids having the time of her life.
I used to pick her up and take her to events occaissionally. Sharp as a tack, she knew her way around the city like the back of her hand. I am perpetually lost — even after nearly 25 years in the metroplex.
Also at her funeral, her family passed out little presents with a cute poem on it about how we can always have her with us. It’s aptly placed in the center console of my car.
I aspire to be her.
Perhaps someone’s mother will someday say I look like a typical Oklahoma woman. While I don’t have a pep squad outfit, I hope I’m as energetic and ready to try new things as she was.
Keck’s toe reminded me and brought this aspiration to mind again. It’s a nice Readvent reminder to think of my friend. ❤
TotallyKris 