{"id":21459,"date":"2015-04-16T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2015-04-16T07:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=21459"},"modified":"2015-04-16T00:01:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-16T07:01:35","slug":"the-best-things-in-life-have-been-there-right-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/the-best-things-in-life-have-been-there-right-along\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Things in Life . . . Have Been There Since High School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cindy<\/a>
Cindy played\u00a0chess at the National Open in Las Vegas in 2010. Attending a chess tournament en masse<\/em> is the Newhall family’s idea of a good time.\u00a0Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

Jon looked at me over the telephone receiver. His brother was calling. \u201cCindy died,\u201d he said. \u201cShe died last night. In her sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t expecting this. I should have. I knew that our niece had multiple sclerosis and that the disease would shorten her life. But Cindy was only 51<\/a>. I didn\u2019t think her life would be that short.<\/p>\n

Cindy had been making plans to meet the family in Las Vegas for the National Open chess tournament in June. She\u2019d been on Facebook just days ago. Then, overnight, she was gone.<\/p>\n

My mind grasped around for a way to take the news in. I wanted\u00a0to erase it, or at least modify it, turn it into something acceptable. But there was no getting rid of this new fact.<\/p>\n

My thoughts turned to my old high school friend Karel and her husband. The two had been in town the previous weekend and had spent a day or two with Jon and me.<\/p>\n

\"Barbara<\/a>
That’s Karel<\/a><\/strong> on the right with me back in our Bermuda shorts days. Photo by David Falconer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d shared a meal at Camino down on Grand Avenue. We\u2019d strolled the Oakland Museum\u2019s history wing. And the four of us had spent a morning sitting in our den, cheering Bob and Karel\u2019s team \u2013 Michigan State \u2013 on to victory over Louisville\u00a0in the NCAA basketball quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

My own team, the University of Michigan (and State\u2019s arch rival), was not in the running. Which\u00a0meant I could throw myself wholeheartedly into rooting for Karel\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Karel’s\u00a0visit had left me with a nice glow. It seemed that friendships, the old ones, really do endure. And times like these with old friends\u00a0really are the very best moments we get to have during our rocky, uncertain forays on planet Earth.<\/p>\n

What could I do about Cindy \u2013 her cruelly shortened life and our family\u2019s loss of her bright presence? Not a thing.<\/p>\n

And what could I do about the fact that my own life now seemed\u00a0in peril? I read the paper every morning over oatmeal and green tea thinking that I have the whole day — and weeks and years — in front of me.\u00a0The truth is, like Cindy, I don\u2019t have time to squander. My days are numbered.<\/p>\n

What to\u00a0do about that? The answer is\u00a0obvious: Get\u00a0with friends as often as you can, especially the old ones. Whenever\u00a0possible, cheer their teams on to victory.<\/p>\n

That’s all I’ve got.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed this post, share it with friends by using one of the icons at the top of the right column –Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, you name it. You can also sign up to get regular email updates by clicking on that envelope icon.<\/em><\/p>\n

To learn more about my book, <\/em>Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, just out from Patheos Press, go to WrestlingWithGodBook.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Cindy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>My niece had died. My mind scrambled for a way to face this loss. It found comfort in a surprisingly simple place: a visit from a high school friend. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1436,1437,187,34,655,341,1438,214,1431,55],"class_list":["post-21459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-rocky-spiritual-journey","tag-best-things-in-life","tag-cindy","tag-death","tag-dont-miss","tag-friends","tag-high-school","tag-karel","tag-michigan","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-family-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21459\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}