We called Woolworth's the 5 & 10

"A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town", exclaims Harry Bailey.


A grand sentiment indeed proclaimed by the younger of the Bailey brothers in Frank Capra's classic film, "It's a Wonderful Life". Truly a man is rich who has true friends.


This week's blog is a "Friends and Rich Theme", well actually its more than just a theme about friends and being rich, its about "actual" true friends and becoming rich.


Let's begin with the "friends" portion, shall we?


First of all, I am amazed that I am even sharing this story, with all of you who have been following this blog., let alone with those of you who may have stumbled upon this blog for the first time. But, there is a position of safety here, as I sit at a keyboard and punch out these lines ( if you have ever seen me type, you would agree with my descriptive use of the word: punch!) so, "punch" I will and share this witness. 
It would not be over-reaching to say that I have had difficulty with people who filled the "Friend" slot in my life. Mostly due to the fact that friends have always been so fleeting. Over the years, I have come to accept the fact, that, people will come and go in my life. Perhaps that is why I always smile when hear Johnny Cash sing the line,   " Everyone I know, goes away in the end." in the song "Hurt". I smile because, in my life, it has been true. I find that friend making is not an easy task, and finding a "true friend", is even harder, if not near impossible.


I'll spare you, the reader, the many, many details of my life up until now, suffice it to say that childhood friendships have long been covered over by the blanket of time, and that adult friendships also lie dormant beneath that same covering. 


Now, please, don't let me give any of you the impression of my life's situation. I have been very happily married to  Judy for over 36 years. I have 2 wonderful grown children that I love totally and am extremely proud of, and have been blessed in so many wonderful ways.  But friends?


Okay, enough of history.  Here is what I have to say.


This Sunday I returned to the services (Vespers and Divine Liturgy) at the Orthodox Church, after a 1 week, hiatus due to attending a Men's Retreat the previous weekend. ( see last week's blog ). The church is in the middle of its Phase 2 portion of its Iconography project. I had arrived early (some things are constant) and had time to look over the new icons that have been added. Now, remember I am new to Orthodoxy so every little thing that comes into my line of sight is taken in and thought about. There was something going on inside of me as I looked at the icons, old and new, that until just a few moments ago, I had not been able to describe. I am not kidding here, this just came to me as I "punched" in the above sentence that started, "This Sunday I returned........" this is as fresh as I can write it.


Here it is: I sensed that the Saints I was looking at were "True Friends".


Now I hope I am not out - of -line here, or I am offending anyone, but that's the sense, that I now know that I was feeling! Wow! The hair on my arms is standing up! Whew! 


"True Friends!!!" ....... Friends that haven't left, friends that are interceding for me when asked, friends that know how to be friends!!!


Now it doesn't end here, you see my idea for this blog was to write about how wonderful the people at this Orthodox Church were to me on Sunday, because so many greeted me and said, "Welcome Back!, we missed you last week, glad to see you today!"


This now explains to me, why just a little bit into the Divine Liturgy on Sunday I started to weep a bit, oh! I did my best to hide it (call it a guy thing). I think it was because of the "love" in the church. Not only the wonderful love of God and His presence, but the love from the friends contained in the icons of the Saints and the love demonstrated by my  brothers and sisters with skin on.


Okay let's jump ahead to Wednesday, shall we?


On Wednesday I had an "out of the blue" meeting with a gentleman named Bob, that I have known for about the last 3 years to discuss becoming a part of his "Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Business". I have been out of work for the last 2 years, so this was "big".  The thing is, this guy and I had talked about getting together in this business and we had even developed a business plan about 10 months ago, but, things fell apart, and we had very, very little contact since then. Bob explained his ideas about the business and said that he wanted me to come back in and pick up where we left off and put the plan into action. He said, "Now, you don't have to give me answer now, I just want you to think about and let me know!"


I smiled and said, " Bob, I don't have to think about it. You see I have been in prayer about it for the last few months, and was about to approach you this very day to discuss it with you". We shook hands and I joined the business.


Bob, smiled.
I, smiled.


I told my wife Judy about the meeting and the result.
Judy, smiled.


I believe, that my "True Friends", were smiling also.


Here is the "rich" portion of the story. 
Its great to be back working, but, it's having found people that "miss you" and treat you as friend with love in their hearts, along with the friends in heaven, that I just realized that I have, that make me rich.

We called Woolworth's the "5 & 10", Bob and I

By the way, Bob and I grew up in the same town in Staten Island. We know many of the same people and share a bunch of the same memories of places and events.

Three years ago when we met and discovered that fact, I had I feeling it wasn't an accident.
Bob is a true friend also, guess I knew that about 3 years ago, (sometimes it takes me a while)


God's timing is always perfect.


"George Bailey, you ain't got nothing on me, bro!"