THOUGHTS ON BELONGING.

Many years ago, a group of friends gathered on a neighbor’s screened porch, enjoying a summer night, a little wine and our friendship.  We were imagining our “perfect” old people’s home.  It would be just us, of course.  We decided to make job assignments right then and there.  No time like the present, we said.  We were planning ahead. Way, way ahead.

Decisions were made. The Mister would be our carpenter.  Sandy, author of a cooking column for our local newspaper, would be our chef.  Adele, a talented seamstress, would mend our old and tattered clothes.  And on and on it went. Everyone was assigned a role.

Except for me.

Well, what about ME?????? I asked.  Have I been fired??  Axed?  Dismissed?  Left behind?  So soon?  Not at all, they said.  I could just be ME.  That would be enough, they said.  Perhaps I should have been offended, but I wasn’t.  I was honored.  If they wanted ME, for just being ME, how could I not feel appreciated?  Loved?  A valued part of the whole?

We never got there, of course.  To that particular time or space.   People changed, moved, died.  But even now, when the days get a little long and a little lonely, I go back there.  To that night.  To that porch. To those friends.  And I know in my creaky old bones that I still have a little something to offer.  Even if it’s just being me.