A new friend-Maureen Green

I will return to this story of my discovery and love affair with Ballyvaughan, but first a sweet story of a new friendship-one of many!

Monday, Aug. 22, 2011
A perfectly delightful, surprise visit this morning from my new friend from North Yorkshire, England, Maureen Green. I'm sitting in my conservatory, as they call my glass enclosed room over here, sipping coffee in my pjs, listening to worship music, luxuriating in the view, when she taps on my window.

I met Maureen at the Soda Parlor on Saturday. I was already seated enjoying my very favorite crepe, Brie, crispy bacon and a bit of cranberry chutney, when Maureen comes in and sits at a table opposite me. We catch each other's eyes, we smile, and thus begins our connection.

As she studies the menu and peers over at me in that familiar way of viewing other's food for ideas of what to order, I volunteer my selection and declare it to be superb, which she promptly orders.

The Soda Parlor is very small and intimate, with probably no more than 8 tables so on any day, but especially a Sat., it stays full. All the tables are full and two women enter looking for a table. (I have become quite close to the hard-working young family who operate it and want them to have all the business they can manage so they can stay in business until my next visit.) I ask the two women to wait one minute and I go over to my smiling friend, Maureen, and tell her I would like to give up my table to the ladies. Would I be imposing if I joined her while we both finished our lunches. She welcomed me eagerly and thus has begun a wonderful friendship.

Maureen is 73 young years; a widow since last Sept., to a "good and kind man", who died after an 18 mo. battle with leukemia; has 3 dear daughters, 8 grandsons, and 3 great-grandsons; runs the family business of the engineering of gears for machinery, which she has recently sold, with great relief; travels; is chair of the Governor's Board of Education, which looks over the management of the school budgets as well as the curriculum; a woman of deep faith; and a lover and appreciator of life, just like me.

She has her beautiful springer spaniel with her, Paddy, which she leaves in the car until I insist that she bring him in. And thus a delightful friendship is started. We exchange emails, pictures are taken, and I invite her to come visit me in Washington, as well as here in the village next summer.

I am learning to be more and more open to each moment, each person God brings into my life. We walk amongst people in need; people hungry to be heard and cared about. Having the time and heart for those opportunities makes for lots of wonderful surprises and treasured moments.