My Friend Pat

This is Pat's favourite verse. My friend Pat died on Monday in April 2008 but I use the present tense because she does not believe in death. Pat was just going to join her two sweethearts, Ric and Jesus.

We drank coffee and put the church to rights. Sometimes we went to church, the special midweek Wednesday service which I have told you about, sometimes we went to lunch and sometimes we did both. But we talked, then we talked some more.
It was a minor miracle that Pat could talk and walk at all. She had lived through lung cancer and a stroke. Her hub had been told that she would always need care, probably would not talk properly and the likelihood of a normal life was minimal.

Pat had a fake grass carpet on her patio and in part of the garage. The garage had a little table and chairs, like a summer house. Pat went there to smoke. She knew she was doing herself no good.

Pat had a lot of tales. My favourite was her recounting of going to buy her coffin. She and her husband did this before he died. There was a sale on coffins so she bought one. She liked the idea that she was not even paying full price for her final resting place.
My next favourite was the one about the lady being raped a the store on the east of Houston. Pat was a district personal manager. The manager of the store involved called Pat to tell her about the problem. her reply was "I think you should call your local police. They will get there sooner than me." (The end of the story is long and complicated. For some reason the woman was just shouting wolf.)
There was also one about their move into investing in real estate. They bought a 'ranch' in the country. It consisted of a shed. They used to visit it for picnics but that was as far as it went.

I still miss Pat and our conversations. Often I think "I must tell Pat that. She would have a good laugh over that." There is no Pat to visit. I don't even live near her house any longer. But I do have the memories of the joy and the faith that we share.