A Comforting Thought

(St Augustine Beach, FL) One of the neat things about getting old(er) is you can find people you know most anywhere you go. In other words, your friends get scattered out all over the place the longer you live.

I found three such ladies yesterday at the Nautilus store on St. Augustine Beach. And I had a blast reliving some special times of years gone by with this mother and two of her daughters.

Sylvia Sams is the mother of five children. Since I spent a lot of time at her house as a boy hanging out with her oldest son Jimmy, I know them all well.

My goodness she put up with a lot.

I remember such things as putting pillows under the sheets at night so it would look like we were in the bed when she checked on us. We would sneak out to hang out with some nearby girls who also were sneaking out.

Several of us guys formed a rock and roll band and we did most of our practicing on her back patio. We were loud and we were not very good. On top of that, her son was our drummer. So I’m sure it was loud at her house even when the rest of the band was absent.

Now that I think about it I bet she had a difficult time watching her favorite television show or even having a conversation with someone with all the noise we were making.

But by the grace of God we all grew up and Mrs. Sylvia survived it all.

She, along with daughters Linda and Charlotte, have been running a very successful business here for the past 34 years.

For the record she also raised a very successful family. And I sure am thankful I was a small part of it many moons ago during my most formative years.

Friends eventually do get scattered all over the place and some you don’t see very often. But real friends never stop being your friends.

And that, my friend, is a comforting thought.