[Oe List ...] Thank you!

[Mari Crocker]

Dear Lynda,

Thank you so very much for your generous Thanksgiving message — both the poetry written by John 25 years ago, and your “in memorium” list of all the Saints in our Movement and Order who have gone on before us.

I think of you often, knowing you are experiencing the “grief before the final grieving” as you accompany your beloved husband in his illness.  It’s not an easy charge, especially at the holidays.  This is my first Christmas season without Joe being here since 1966 when he asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve.  Ah, the journey.

I have spent this Thanksgiving week caring for a neighbor’s doggie and kitty — lots of walks and a rigid feeding schedule that Tawney, the dog, keeps me onto like clockwork.  There is nothing like the sphinx-like pose and eye-to-eye stare that says, “Time to feed me!!”

Also this weekend I opened up and began to read the boxes of letters I had written to my parents during our many years in the OE — saved by my mother over the decades.  There were, of course, lots of family chit-chat, but also a treasure trove of my reflections on events and points of engagement that I had totally forgotten.  I will be talking with Karen Troxel later this week to explore how to make "missionally germane" sections of my letters available for the archives.  Also I am struck by the rich descriptions I shared of the plethora of activities and opportunities Jon and Ben enjoyed as “E.G.”  I know other families had different experiences, but my story, written at the time of their formative years, is one of deep appreciation.  And yes, things like “in-kind green beans and grits” were not shared, but what I did tell was authentic and true, from my perspective.

I always appreciate your “centeredness” and caring in all your communications to us.  You are a very special colleague.

With love to you and your family,

Mari