Dear Gayle,
It's about this time every Christmas when I think of that icy, snowy night in 1990 when you drove from Ashland, KY to my parent's home in Frankfort, KY (140 miles)for an open house my mother was adadmant about having despite the subzero weather. We stood in front of the fireplace for most of the evening.
Some friends you meet in college remain your friends for life. That is us. Despite the many miles between us over the years, you have never missed reaching out to me EVERY week by letter, fax, phone, visit and now email, FB, etc. You truly know the value of the gift of time -- it's not the decorative card or the funny tagline (although we have shared many of those) it's the ability to have so much you want to tell someone and having someone so eager to listen that you run down the batteries of 3 phones in the house before you get it all said. That is us!!
But one of the greatest gifts of time you have given me was on this wintery, blistering cold night when everyone said "stay off the roads" you hauled that old Mercedes to Frankfort to see me. And I know why. My father's health was declining and you knew, I knew, we all knew, he would never see another one.
Thank you for making that journey. I've never forgotten what it meant to me and to him.
Love,
Gwen
