Time is a Fickle Friend
We found out last week that my dear friend, Fr. Paul Grégoire, is retiring this spring. At 77, he feels that he can no longer administer his large parish. I can’t tell you how much I’m going to miss him.
We’ll still get to see him, but he’s going to be further away. He spent nearly a year “further away” a number of years back, and it seems that we saw him more often then - than we do now. Perhaps … we have a way of taking our time with those we love for granted … and time is a very fickle friend.
Tonight, if the roads aren’t too slippery, we’ll be meeting Fr. Paul for dinner at a local restaurant. I’ll try to post some pictures tomorrow. We usually go out as a large group, although some of our dinners have been small and quiet. Tonight, we’ll have a medium sized group - there are a lot of people I haven’t notified … I hope they’re not angry with me. Time just got away from me …
For now … I’d like to reminisce about some of the good times we’ve shared in the past …
(L-R) My son Daein and his sweet wife, Sarah … “Mom” England, at the other end of the table, my dear friend Joanie, whom I’ve known since I was 13, and Lucille from Manchester. She has cancer, and her hair was just growing back from her latest series of treatments. This photo was taken just over a year ago at the Pilgrim’s Back Room in Manchester, NH.
Fr. Paul … tucked into a corner, and Lucille Corriveau … looking over a menu. Same place and time as group picture.
My mom-in-law, Althea Ballard, and Susan Holman … same place and time as above. Susan had just cracked a joke. She’s one of the funniest, sweetest ladies I know. Last night, she told me she had taken up “line dancing” in order to get on top of the extra holiday pounds. She said, “Oh! It’s a riot! You can dance, make mistakes, laugh … lots of fun!” When I think of all the stuff she’s into … I need to take a nap! *LOL*
My son Dougie and myself. Same time and place as above. I think I was complaining about my “Grateful Dead.” Some restaurants make great drinks … and others, well … Grateful Deads are hard to get right anyway. Anyone want to try a novel drink … which if made right, is both deadly and delicious (restaurants won’t serve you more than 2,) let me know … and I’ll send you the recipe for making it right in your own home.
This is Fr. Paul and I at Alexander’s, in Dover, NH, back in December of 2003. Life was in flux for all of us then. I had just started all of my health crises, and Fr. Paul had just come out of a different sort of crisis of his own. I don’t remember everyone who was with us on that day, but I know Joanie and her Mom were, because Joanie took the picture. I’m sure that Dougie was, too. Daein was probably up at the university.
Is there anyone that you love deeply … but you haven’t told them so lately? Don’t wait. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Of the things I regret most in my own life … those I left unsaid or undone are the most exquisitely painful.
Time waits for no one,
It passes you by.
It rolls on forever,
Like the clouds in the sky.
Time waits for no one,
Goes on endlessly.
It’s just like a river,
Flowing out to the sea.
You’ll find that love is like this.
Each precious moment we miss
Will never ever return again.
So don’t let us throw one
Sweet moment away.
Time waits for no one
Let’s love while we may.
(”Time Waits for No One”
Words and music by Cliff Friend and Charlie Tobias.
Sung by Bing Crosby.)
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