Minutes to Memories

With the ONLY exception of feeling tired, this has been an exceptional day.

It began with the second meeting of the Gulf Coast Single Parent Network, hosted by our young adult group at church. The building looked fantastic, due to hard work on many sides. We were a bit disappointed at first when it seemed as if we would have much fewer in attendance than last time, but we eventually saw the same number of participants arrive (eleven), and I felt as if everything went very well. I sensed that we as a group were deepening relationships with the single-parent families and just had a general sense that this was a tremendously worthwhile way to spend a day.

Afterward, my wife and youngest daughter and I made our way to Biloxi to see our old friend, Hezekiah (pictured above). On one occasion last year when Hillary and I were visiting Hezekiah, I made a casual remark about a Happy Birthday gift bag draped across the back of his wheelchair. He stopped in his tracks & asked me if it was his birthday. I didn't have a clue. Hezekiah wouldn't rest that day until he found out when his birthday was, and I made a mental note when a member of the staff told him it was March 1, 1937.

Hezekiah's 70th birthday has been on my 2007 calendar ever since. I was disappointed that our schedule was full two days ago, but with Hezekiah the major advantage was that he didn't know which day was his birthday in the first place! So today we went to the nursing home to throw a surprise birthday party for a wonderful man disabled both physically and mentally.

It was priceless.

The wonderful Activities Director (Ms. Martin) was our contact, and we called to let her know when to expect us. My wife made a sugar-free birthday cake so all the residents could enjoy it, and we brought presents, too. We also brought noisemakers, and I wish you could have been there to see (and hear!) a bunch of older childlike people wandering around the common area blowing colorful streamer-fringed horns and laughing at the fun. Hezekiah just laughed the entire time, glowing at being the center of attention!

I remembered today why Jody & Hillary are two of the greatest people in the world. I loved watching them cut the cake & deliver pieces on festive party paper products to the lonely residents enjoying a blast of grace out of nowhere on what they expected to be a boring afternoon. When they finished their cake, they would yell "Thank you for the cake!" to Hezekiah, to which he would reply, "You're welcome."

I don't know Hezekiah's entire story. He's told me bits and pieces about his family, but he simply isn't able to fill in any significant details. I know all his family is dead and that he's been in an institution for years now with absolutely no one to his name. I know that, in spite of that, he is practically the happiest person I know - without a doubt, the most pleasant. I can only guess that he was a special-needs kid who would never live on his own, but also someone whose family simply couldn't live long enough to take care of his future.

But today, he had a 70th birthday party, and he glowed as the center of attention.

I cannot think of anything better in this whole world to do on a Saturday afternoon than to throw a birthday party for someone left all alone. On the way out, my wife said, "You know, we could come every month and throw a party for anyone who had birthdays that month?"

And I loved her more than ever.