Apartment Hospitality

The apartment is quiet now. The sheets and towels churn in the basement laundromat. I pulled the privacy curtain from the arched hall entrance, deflated an air bed, and the sofa bed is folded away. Suitcases sit waiting to roll out the door and onto a train. The freezer holds enough leftovers to feed Laurence and me for a while. No one is waiting for our one bathroom! The noise of the past week is silenced. I hear a mourning dove.

Tyson and Kari Boehs with 10-year-old Jacob came a week ago for a coffee fest. They also came because a part of their hearts stayed in the city when they left here after being houseparents. They drove away and my niece Erin came with her coteachers from Faunsdale – nice girls!

Jacob and I rode the Seaglass Carousel. Jacob climbed in the biggest fish but when they told him the big fish doesn’t go very high, he chose a small fish. (Choose small fish!). The two of us sat on a park bench and ate mango and talked. We joined his parents at the top of One World just as a full moon rose over NYC, an awesome sight!

Our Liberian Brother Benn brought the girls to the city. 9/11 truly is behind us but there are still so many reminders when I get to lower Manhattan. I pointed out where I’d worked, the Burger King that became police headquarters, where I’d go for coffee, and finally, the Winter Garden to the girls as we toured down there. We walked many steps with going to Frances Tavern, Federal Hall, Trinity Church, Manhattan Library, Grand Central, Bryant Park, and then a train back here from Times Square.

The girls also went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty yesterday. Today, they are at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. We have not been there nor will we go.

Did I write that 9/11 is behind us? Some things change our lives forever. The Pandemic did. This week two young men from the Mifflinburg congregation passed on to a much more beautiful place than this earthly realm. The family and friends left behind will never look at life the same. All week while touring and entertaining guests, I remembered these deaths. (And I prayed for you who have so often prayed for me. You know who you are.)

Three years ago in March, Laurence stood in the foyer one day after work, and told me he has COVID. Today, he says, “I am getting better.”

Let’s pray for each other. Thanks for reading.

Berniece