"Beautiful Day"

31 July 2017:

"It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day" --U2, "Beautiful Day"

I was just sitting here feeling anxious about silly things and this song came on Pandora. About half-way through, I stopped and thought about the song itself. And then I had a memory...

My friend Bonnie, sits in her apartment in Greensboro, hosting a bunch of us as we play some game (maybe Risk? it was Risk a lot!) after gathering for a grad-school potluck (translation: everybody brings something cheap, it probably isn't fancy, but it's still good).

Clear as day, I can see her in a kind of complete-image memory: she's shuffling cards and singing this chorus as it plays in the background. And we are all, in that moment, pretty happy. We are poor, always a bit (or a lot) stressed, but we have each other and we have our cheap potlucks and board games and laughter and music.

So much has changed since then, and Bonnie died at a cruelly early age, but that little memory reminds me to pause for a bit and stop stressing over little stuff. It's a beautiful day, after all.

Bonnie

Yesterday I learned that a dear friend from graduate school passed away in November. Her father sent me a letter after receiving the Christmas card I sent to her. Since I heard the news, I've been flooded with memories. Bonnie was such an awesome person: kind, compassionate, funny, smart, and just all-around good. She was also an amazing Christian, a woman who really lived a life of faithful witness and service. She made the world a better place and, if we honor her memory, she will keep on making the world a better place.

I'll miss you, my friend.

Me, Gretchen, and Bonnie, back when Bonnie and I visited Gretchen after she started her job. She was the first of our group to get a tenure-track job, so this was a big deal. We are pointing to Gretchen's name on the sign.