Mentors and Memories

We all have them.  Individuals in our lives who have had a profound impact.  Helped guide us, support us, shape us, and inspire us to be who we really are.

More often than that, these people are family, our own flesh and blood.  Those who have known us since we began walking and talking, and have taken at least one bare-bottomed baby pic to save for future blackmail purposes.

But every once in a while, fate connects us to someone who is not family in the strict sense of the definition, but decides to take us under their wing and treat us like family anyway.

While my parents have by far been my guiding lights in my life, I have been extremely fortunate to also have mentors who are not related to me by birth, but who nevertheless have treated me like family and have taught and encouraged me beyond words.  Dede, Marvin, Terri, just to name a few.  My life has been enriched beyond belief just by knowing them.

A few weekends ago Lauren and I got to meet a similar figure in Joe's life.

Jim gave Joe one of his first jobs as a teen and has been an influential figure ever since.  They lost touch for a number of years but reconnected fairly recently.  We had them over for dinner, and I was able to see, no, to feel, the connection between Joe, Jim, and Jim's wife Silva.    

[Artful shot by none other than Lauren Jade]

Given that Joe and I have so many years behind us where we simply did not know each other, I loved having the opportunity to hear about him as a young pup.  You can learn so much about a person from people who have known them for forever.   While I'm already certain about the type of person he is, hearing Jim and Silva talk about Joe and his family with such sincerity and conviction, particularly their character and moral integrity......well, let's just say the air was charged with emotion.  In what can only be described as the best possible way.

Lauren kept us entertained by performing a dance show for us post-dinner, with "Here Comes the Sun" blaring from the outdoor speakers.


[slicked back hair and makeup are remnants from her ballet recital pics that afternoon]

It was an afternoon of nostalgia but one also filled with the creation of new memories.  A symbiotic blending of old and new, past and present.