There was a big crowd at the West Michigan Symphony as only one concert was being played in February. We were there on Friday night sitting in different seats than we usually do when we attend on Saturday night.
I watched as three older women worked themselves slowly up the aisle.
The last one was using a cane. They stopped at our row and my husband and I moved into the aisle to let them in.
As they settled into their seats I realized how hard it must be for elderly people to even get out on a frigid snowy night and then get comfortable when they sit down. I asked the woman with the cane sitting next to me, who was also balancing a program and purse, if I could help her get her coat off. As I held her cane and helped her with her coat she asked me my name. She told me hers was Alice. She thanked me profusely for helping her. She said, "I hope I don't fall asleep."
I told her, "Just don't snore."
It wasn't until intermission when I learned a small part of Alice's story. I asked her if she lived in Muskegon and she told me she had lived there all her life and had graduated from Muskegon Heights High School. The two women she was with were her classmates.
I asked, "What year did you graduate?"
The look on her face was one of amusement. "You don't want to know. It was a long time ago."
I pushed her to tell me and she said, "1947."
"Oh, I was born in 1946 so I was just a baby when you graduated," I said.
She told me that she and her friends had been going out for breakfast and lunch once a month. She laughed and said, "But we decided that wasn't often enough so now we're going out once a week."
"Who is the driver?" I asked.
"I am, but my kids don't like me driving," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. Alice seemed the most frail of the three women so learning she was the driver surprised me. I wondered if her children might not have cause to worry.
Her life story deepened when Alice told me she had a child, who at two years old, was diagnosed with cancer. She and her husband were told he wouldn't live very long, but she said he is now 57. However she had a son who died of cancer at the age of 35. Unfortunately her 57 year old son is not in good health and she was worried about his chances of living too much longer.
When Muskegon was more an industrial city, Alice worked at several of the major factories in Muskegon, including Continental. I uncovered all these details about Alice's life in a ten minute conversation. She struck me as a sweet woman who had tasted the bad and good of life and was now enjoying her women friends who had been her classmates.
When we said goodbye after the concert she seemed genuinely glad to have talked to me as I was to listen to her story. She reinforced what I have known and that is that old friends can take us into our final years with memories of shared experiences and a lifetime of love. Those friendships can be our joy as we near the close of our lives. An Irish Proverb seems to sum up Alice's story of her companionship with her high school friends.
May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours wherever you may roam....
