Mary L.

I was a wee bit stunned yesterday evening, to receive news of the death of a long time friend.  One of the three close friends I have.

Mary, seen here enjoying recently playing the Great Aunt with her new Great Nephew, has been a friend since first meeting her sometime in the 80's at the 'Grove' in London.  This at a time the church there was beginning to go through a great transformation.  

In time, several of us often met to pray, and mostly argue and give rude lip to one another.  Mary developed a talent for of prayer and hearing God speak to us.  Very important to us at the time.  For some reason she was impressed by Shakespeare and one Saturday afternoon when more important things called, she dragged me of to the Barbican to watch 'Henry V.'   We sat at the back, high up, and I spent a couple of hours with her moaning and grumbling because she wished to be at the front, joining in!  The 'Welsh' character at one point used the term 'Weasel Scot,' and this was heard quite often for the next 12 months!  It has been heard since of course.

Times change and we both moved away eventually.  Both retired in time, and for many reasons have not met up directly for 30 years.  Phone, email, and even Zoom have been used, and I feel guilty we did not use more of this in recent days.  The emails however, retained her grumbling and rudeness.  A rudeness I myself would never offer, honestly.

It transpires that last Sunday Mary suffered a serious stroke, and died on Thursday.  

I am stunned at the news.  I am at the age where the aged fall away, however, I did not expect this from Mary as yet.  At least now the Good Lord has her in his presence, the Jesus who died for her sins, rose for her justification, and called upon her to repent and follow him will now be rejoicing that she has truly come home.  How he will cope with her tongue is of course another matter.  I will have to get used to the silence.