This was written for and published in the January 2001 ‘Circuit Rider’ newsletter that I ‘did’ some years while at Wesley Chapel, outside of Jacksonville, IL.

It is ‘_01’ because I wrote Another ‘Susie’ story for December of that same year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

“Ok,” I said. “Push down on the clutch.” “The what!?” she answered. I knew it was going to be a long afternoon.
Susie and I had known each other for a very long time. In fact, I’d been told that we had played in the same crib as babies. And in spite of not seeing one another for years at a time, and being in separate school districts (she went to Roxana – I went to Edwardsville), by high school we were very close friends.
Susie had lived in the same small house trailer, with her mother, all of her life. And this was at a time when single parents were not an accepted part of society. Still, by high school she was a bright, outgoing (even ‘bubbly’), normal(?) teen-age girl. She primarily took care of herself and the house while her mother was working and was a living example, in most ways, of what the ‘modern woman’ was to become. Yet, as in each of us, there were gaps in her education. One of these, for her, was driving. Susie is the only person that I have ever known, personally, to flunk Drivers Ed. Not in the classroom, but on the road.
I can recall her telling me that her instructor kept telling her “Miss *****, it is customary to SLOW DOWN for a corner!” At one point she broke the antenna off of her mother’s car by getting too close to a mailbox. When we each graduated from high school in 1971, she was still not driving! So, that summer I offered to try to teach her.
After picking her up sometime after lunch, we drove out to the outer parking lots at SIUE, which were empty at that time of year. (And no mailboxes in sight!) My ’67 Fairlane was a nice size car to learn to drive in, and, with its small 6-cylinder engine, was easy to control. But it was a manual transmission! Something that Susie had, apparently, never been around. My work was cut out for me.
We spent the afternoon learning how to start and stop with a clutch, how to shift gears, how to back up, how to go forward, how to turn while going forward, how to turn while backing up, how to park, etc., etc., etc. Towards evening I let her drive some on the roads around the main campus, which were also pretty much empty at that time of year.
By the end of that summer, I believe, she had gotten her license. I liked to think that I had some small part in that, even though at times, watching her drive, I wouldn’t admit it to anyone!
As close as we were that summer, within two years we were each married (to other people), and within three had seen each other for what has turned out to be, probably, the last time.
I’m not one who usually thinks much about ‘New Years’. Sometimes it has been a day off from work, but normally, to me it is just another day of the year. At the times that I do ponder upon it, though, I tend to reflect upon the people that I have known, the friends that I have made, the friends that I have lost, the places that I have been, the places that I’ve never made it to, the things that I have done and experiences that I’ve had, and those that I have missed out on.
It’s good to reminisce. Sometimes, a person needs to stop, turn around, and look at the path that they have taken in order to remember why they are where they are, and why they are going the direction that they are going. It is certainly something the Israelites should have done more of!
Consider how many times, in the Old Testament, that they would ‘forget’ the things that God had done for them and move away from the path that He had directed them to. Even in a time that God worked directly among the people, they ‘forgot’.
God may not ‘reside’ in a visible temple anymore, but He certain works and resides among us by being a part of each of us. And when we take the time to look back at our life path we can see all of the places where God has taken an active roll in our lives, even if we didn’t realize it at the time.
Each of our lives is an intricate web of friends, family, experiences, losses, joys, happiness, and sorrow. And when we look, we can see how God has worked to weave all of that together, and become part of it, to make us into the person that we are today. And that person is very special to God. He will certainly continue to be with each of us throughout the New Year.
And I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next! ‘Happy New Year!’