"Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it."
We had the pleasure to have Erica, Junia and David over for dinner a few weeks ago. Sadly, we had never had them over...our only real social experience with them as a couple was going out to dinner and a play a while back. David & I went to a Rockies game on my birthday, Allie and Kelly had spent a lot of time with Erica/Mrs. Morrow over the years, & I had a chance or two to have working dinners with Erica to discuss plays and stuff...but never a full-fledged, "come on over to eat some food at our place" kind of affair. And it was sad since the event was really that we were saying goodbye to the three of them. David is a proud graduate of the Seminary, they sold their little house, had their kid and were ready to move up to Minneapolis to be grown-up, all the while living in David's parent's basement (to get started of course).
We had a great time. It was fun to see them being parents, and watching them simultaneously be overwhelmed and overfocussed by the whole experience. Junia looked great, kind of like a baby really. Both David and Erica had a lot of their spark back, more so than the last time we
saw them, about T +6 hours into Junia's life. The very fact that they made it over to our house and spent time with all of us was great. I remember that time in our life and if the slightest thing went wrong we'd just hunker down in the house and express our condolensces later. It's really a testimony of their capabilities (at this early stage) as parents and their generosity with their time.It was very nice for the girls to get to spend some quality time with them, especially Erica. She had become their friend and mentor, after all the hours spent on the two major productions this year. Plus I believe that Allie had her for all but one class and since Allie was a Drama Club officer, she had that time also. It was weird for both girls to call him David while still sticking to the Mrs. Morrow, rather than the less-formal Erica. I suspect that's how it'll always be. She had a tremendous impact on Kelly, placing a lot of trust and faith in her and pushed her harder than she's ever been pushed before. Erica/Mrs. Morrow trusted Allie and challenged her in different ways and both girls are so much richer than they were before. She had become the role model that Kristie and I had always hoped for and we continue to be sorry that she won't be there from now on.
I probably had the most interaction with David out of the four of us. We had an instant bond last year, talking Vikings and laughing about a few of the goings on in the Joseph production, which evolved into the same laughs about the School in general. We then pushed it up a notch this year, with some good conversations (we were both Wednesday warriors) and his help and support on the Music Man was instrumental. And his gift of taking me to a Rockies game for my birthday was about as good as it could get, since my whole family had left me home alone. Kristie primarily dealt with them as the School's payroll and money contact. She and Erica had a few long conversations about money...I think it was eye opening for Erica as much as it was for Kristie. But Kristie always dealt with both of them with a little extra charm and style, they both are very special to her. And my relationship with Erica -- let's just say it was the type that I
don't expect to see again anytime soon. Much in the same way that a good song-writing partnership has a tough time of being duplicated with someone else, our partnership was special. She allowed me to care for her, take some of her burdens and run a lot of interference for her. In turn, she did the same and I always knew, in spite of some of the outward appearances, that we were fighting the same fight. I will always respect the way she totally sold out for the kids and that in turn, allowed me to do the same. She wrote me one time to thank me for "turning her naive dreams into reality". I just figured that's what I was supposed to do.So we left it off as "we'll see you soon" rather than goodbye. It's our hope that we get to see them soon. We go to Minneapolis as much as anywhere these days, so it's not completely beyond belief. And I know Erica has stated that she wants to come and see some of the future
productions at the school, maybe the Spring Musical. But the reality is, that we're on a different plain than them. When their first child is a month old, ours is a month away from being 17. Kelly has more in common with them, age-wise, than we do. I think they were born at roughly the same time when I met Kristie...back in college. The bottom line is that we're always going to be friends, but we need to always remember the time that we spent together and how and why we did....and realize that it was a special time and circumstance. And admit that even if they were still in Denver, we'd have less and less contact with them...we run in different circles at different speeds.And it's because of this, that we appreciate and love the time that we, the Shaffers got to spend with them, the Morrows.