Sad News

My phone rang this morning.  The Caller ID couldn't tell me anything about who was calling, but I took the call.  "Peg?  This is Marilynn Bradley."  Marilynn Bradley!  Now here was a welcome name from way back in my youth--the sister of my childhood sweetheart!  And yet I knew in an instant that this was not going to be a social call.  And so it wasn't.  She was phoning to inform me of her/their mother's death.  Sad, sad news.

I'll save the story of my first love for another post, but what was it about Marjorie Bradley Scholl that made me love her so?  She was nothing like my own mother, whom I adored, but she had many attributes that made her refreshing to be around.  She was a little naive...very positive and optimistic...a teacher and homemaker supreme, who loved God and her family faithfully.  She was beautiful inside and out.  When I fell in love with her son, Jim, during a multi-family camping trip in the summer before my 8th grade year, I fell in love with the whole family.  (And I honestly think they loved me, too.)  They lived in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.  We lived in Oak Park, Illinois.  Worlds apart in terms of distance and culture in those days.  I spent at least a week every summer with them until well into college.  Jim and Marilynn spent some time with us in the winters, but it was never the same as being in my Northern Place of Escape.  I learned much about peace and grace by watching Mom Bradley do things in those years.

So very many things to remember!  I've stayed in touch with Jim via occasional emails each year.  I often have envied him the fact that he is only a year younger than I but still had his mother with him in life.  I know he and his sister are suffering right now, but Mom Bradley isn't.   I attended her 90th birthday party in Bloomington, IL, a couple of years ago.  She was well then, but I guess things went downhill somewhat after that.  Ninety-two years isn't a bad run.  Her sweet, caring, optimistic demeanor will be missed by all of those who knew her.  I am honored to be one of those!

Thus, I bless her memory and ask for God's enfolding love for her family in this sad time.  It never seems to get easier....