Every Sunday morning, further back than the days my memory can reach, my mother dressed us in our finest and pointed the car south on our country road.
Gathered there were the people who became family, folks of all ages who mattered to us so deeply that each one held a special place.
Near the end of my mother’s life, we were sitting in a social room where a young man began playing the piano, performing “How Great Thou Art” with great flair. Mom looked at me and said, “It takes me right back to ‘our’ pew with four little girls sitting beside me…”
After the piano grew quiet, I asked Mom if she pictured all the people in their chosen pew, just as I had. “Oh, yes! Every single family!”
This past weekend, my sisters and I were invited to celebrate a marriage of one of those gathered there way back when. I hadn’t seen Mark Basinger for nearly 50 years. Though we had reconnected through social media, my sisters and I were so excited to see him, meet his bride and visit with his mother and siblings. His only sister had forever been my sister’s best friend, and our parents took turns driving us to summer church camp and youth group events.
We walked in the door and the years apart faded away. Hugs, laughter, stories all reconnected us in an instant. As Mark began sharing the story of how he had met this lovely woman named Eve from Thailand, we grew quiet. Mark’s wife of many years had died after a long health battle, and it was his wife’s sister who asked Mark if the woman here on a church mission could use his kitchen to cook for a large group.
“Of course I said yes. I walked in my house and there was this lovely woman on her tiptoes, stirring a large pot on my stove.”
This began a friendship between the two that grew over many miles and long conversations. Mark laughingly said he suddenly “felt like I was about 15 again,” questioning if this growing relationship gave Eve the same spark he was feeling.
Eve then told their story, beautifully, from her vantage point. The answer was yes.
What I observed in that gathering was pure joy, and the feeling that time had fallen away. We were all connected deeply still, despite years and miles apart.
We laughed, we cheered, we wiped away tears of joy for this brother we had loved from little on up. He hosted this lovely celebration because this deep connection matters.
We celebrated the marriage of Mark and Eve as he described asking her 91-year-old father’s blessing, the Thai tradition of dowry, and the father’s choosing of the wedding date this past February.
Their plan to live part of the time in Thailand and at Mark’s home in Pennsylvania is working well for them. Mark’s mother smiled as the gathering grew louder and happier, all celebrating the joy of her oldest son and her newest daughter-in-law.
Every picture I snapped that day radiates joy and evokes memories of our shared childhood in a country church. It was a day we didn’t want to end as we celebrated this new beginning for a lovely couple.
