December (IV) Old Friends

My brother Bartolo and his bride Bonita stayed with us through the evening of the 26 and we had a wonderful time with them. They had to hurry back because Bartolo had an interview at the Modern Language Association meeting in Philly later that week. He interviewed with a strong private university in the South and we are all excited for him. The kids enjoy their time with aunt and uncle and we all enjoyed the conversation.

The following day (Wednesday) was extremely special. We had a good visit with some old (very ooooolllllddddd) friends.

Way back in 1991, we moved into seminary housing in Ft. Worth. We moved into the ever so stylish BH Carroll Park Housing seen here. The “tour” on the site is amusing. It looks far larger on my computer screen than it was back in the day.

Our apartment was 1/3 of a triplex (the middle third) located on 4045 Sandage Avenue. Living next door to us were another couple named Bruce and Linda. Bruce and I shared seminary studies and Linda and Kadie enjoyed working and putting us through seminary. A big date night for the four of us was a trip to the $1.00 movie theater, followed by all you can eat can stand at either Cici’s Pizza or Pancho’s, ending with some cut throat ping-pong at the R.A.C.

Bruce was responsible for reenergizing my latent baseball obsession and we also cheered on the Cowboys as they hit their Super Bowl stride under Aikman, Irvin, and Smith in 92’ and 93’. Out of season we would also beat up on Mike Ditka Football or Tony LaRussa Baseball. For these reasons (among others) Kadie curses his name to this day.

He finished up seminary a year before I did (he remains by far the brighter of the two of us) and headed down to Baylor University. It was based in part on his encouragement that we applied and were accepted (I think he pulled some strings). They helped us to find a home in Waco and we continued to enjoy each other all over again for another few years.

They have always served as role models for us. They bought a Saturn, we bought a Saturn. They went to Baylor, we went to Baylor. Bruce pastored a small country church, I pastored a small country church. They had two girls, we had two girls (should we have stopped there?). One of the greatest vacations we ever took was with Bruce and Linda up to Banff, Canada back around 1996.

All of that changed in 1999 as Bruce and Linda moved out to teach in a Baptist university on the east coast. It was tough to see them go, but it is a fact of graduate life that all relationships have a four or five year boundary. By the time they moved away, we had been next door or a few blocks away from them for about eight years. Now we see them perhaps once a year for a brief time as they travel back this way to visit family. We’ve gone out there once with them and we hope to do so again this summer.

Bruce and I keep in touch with a monthly phone call or to commiserate about the Rangers or Cowboys. When He and Linda stopped in after Christmas, he traveled out with me to visit Susan Song on a Wednesday night. We continue to miss them. A couple of years ago Linda had a health scare and we thought we would lose her. By God’s grace she’s fine and her scare reminds us again how precious they are to each of us.

One of the special things about our continued friendship is that the next generation is so close. Bruce and Linda came by the Wednesday after Christmas with their beautiful daughters who (in addition to taking after Linda) are right around the age of our own girls. One of the funny things is that although our eldest daughters were toddlers when they moved away, they are still close. For some reason all four of our girls act like life-long friends whenever we are around them. When I told Scooter and Skeeter that they were coming to visit, they began jumping up and down in celebration. They seem like they are closer friends than they should be.

I guess that friendship for each other is etched into their DNA, passed on from both sets of parents.