Blast from the past

Today I had a client come in with the last name of LaBroad...unusual name and it got me thinking about a guy named Benson LaBord that I haven't thought of in years...my first real pen pal. 

I don't know how old I was...it was one of those nebulous summers that somehow change you and you never know why.  Somewhere, I still have those letters that we traded back and forth for those months.  I remember sitting on the porch playing cards, just the four or five of us...Richie, me, Megan, John and Benson.  Benson would sit and draw, and we would talk and play until it was time to go home. I saw Ferngully for the first time that summer...and I still love it! 

Time is such a tricky thing...things that really get me, are the moments that seem so quiet, and yet stick with you for years.

The last letter I got from him was to tell me that his brother, John, was killed in a horrible car accident. I remember so clearly sitting on the stairs, blown away that this was what experiencing the death of a friend felt like.  Totally different from losing a family member... It felt so much more poignant, and yet "less"...somewhat removed. When family dies, you have had a lifetime of memories to comfort you, but their death is close...personal...and their death is not usually sudden. I remember the ripping feeling of that loss which I imagine was a hundred times worse for Benson and his family given that this WAS so sudden!

After my client left, I started wondering about what happened to Benson, I never heard from him again after that last letter.  Did he grow up, get a girlfriend, get married? Was his relationship with his family different without his brother? What kind of a person did he grow into, who did he become? Does he now have children of his own...maybe two boys?

Now this didn't start out as an In Memoriam, but more of a joyful and hopeful thought process, but it certainly took a darker twist than I intended, sorry. 

Maybe the little poem about people coming into your life for a reason, season, or lifetime is true.  Because of that little part of my life, I treasure my sister. I also learned that I will never be alone in my epilepsy, and it doesn't make me a freak (though I also learned that normalcy isn't something "better"). Most of all, I truly feel that snail mail will never be out of style because getting something personal in the mail can be a ray of joy.

So thank you, Benson, for teaching me about simple joys, accepting myself, and valuing time with family...God knows everyone needs to learn those lessons!

...Nature girl