About a month ago, I started thinking about going to visit Huntsville. I guess it was after Erin had been through there and made a comment to me along the lines of "I understand why you and Dad love it so much." The beauty is a big part of it, but that's not the draw to us. It's THE place for us, and when I couldn't get it out of my mind, I should've known something was up.
This morning, one of the first posts I saw on Facebook was from a Bible Chair friend from long ago. She gave the news that Brenda had died.
Brenda and Gary were a "young couple" of the Bible Chair group when we got there in 1973; they'd met there and remained there - Brenda grew up in the church there, so it made sense. Always at their house, even though it was about 15 miles out of town. They'd had one son, and after about a dozen years, were blessed with a second son. Semester after semester, they worked with "BC" kids, remembering how special the place had been for them. Gary grew and became a deacon, and later an elder. Brenda was always there, right beside him.
We laughed years later, long after we'd moved and considered ourselves not "Young Married", that Gary and Brenda remained in the "Young Married" class on Sunday mornings. It's where they belonged; encouraging other young couples. Make no mistake - they had struggles of their own - but they set the example of commitment and love. East Texas through and through, with big, hearty laughs that I hear in my head today.
The receptionist at the church told me that Brenda'd been sick for quite a while; a lot of things evidently went wrong. She'd suffered quite a bit. Gary had to watch that - right there with her all the way.
This weekend, they will bury her on the family ranch in a small Texas town. We'll go and stand in the July Texas heat, and reflect on our years at the Bible Chair. It made me think of "The Big Chill", where college friend meet following the funeral of a friend...
I'm too young for this.
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