The Silver Lining

I spent sometime this week telling an old friend farewell. She’s moving to Florida, and I will surely miss her – though I plan to see her again when I can visit there. She’s been with me for years – through some really tough times and then, thankfully, through some much easier ones. She’s never let me down, always been ready to go at the jingle of a set of keys. She’s always provided a “safe place” for me to vent pain, or sing praises, or just bounce around different ideas. This “friend” is not a human, by the way. She’s a big, blue Buick Park Avenue. She became mine September 19, 2001, and the day I drove her home for the first time, her odometer read 20,500. Now it reads almost 170,000 miles – she’s been a workhorse for me, that’s for sure! She’s also been somewhat of a stabilizer, and at times a comfort – that sounds odd, doesn’t it? I mean, for a car to be a comforter? In 2001, I was a wife and mother with a career (I refuse to use the term “wo...

One day last week as I was getting dressed to face the day, I rummaged through my necklaces to find one that would go with the shirt I intended to wear. I selected a silver one -- but it had been so long since I'd worn it, I grabbed the silver polish and an old brush, and went to work, scrubbing the chain and pendant until they both gleamed. After giving the necklace a final rinse and patting it dry, I slipped it over my head and went to town. I've been attending orientation sessions for my new job. We are all "newly hired" staff, and we've been getting to know each other bit by bit as we attended our classes. I sat next to Beverly; we'd chatted some throughout the week but were still pretty much strangers. She greeted me with a smile and we exchanged pleasantries. Then she paused a moment. She pointed to my necklace and said, "That is such a lovely necklace. Does the cross mean anything to you?" I guess I was a bit shocked at the que...