A Pair in the Pear Tree

THE SUN IS SHINING! Finally. One can feel heat from old sol, too. Oh, the relief of a cheery and bright day. It isn't 70 degrees yet but the promise of warmer temps is in that bright sunshine. If not this week, surely it will be next. This week marks a very important milestone in our family. My father will turn 87 on Wednesday. At this point he is as healthy as a fish and can work circles around most of us. This past week he drove home from Florida where he and his wife spend the winters. We are so thankful for his vitality. He and his wife are some of the most positive people I know. They live life to the fullest always pushing it to the max. No sitting around on their laurels. They help out at their church and always seem to find those folk who need a visit or an encouragement. Grandma Mary cooks three squares so they are fed well and get good nutrition which I feel is so crucial to good health. It is their philosophy to eat their "big" meal at noon so they have all day to work it off and they do. When the weather is acceptable, you will find them outdoors doing one of the many things their big yard needs done. One of the neatest stories unfolded last summer when some friends a generation younger than they were visiting in the area. Grandma Mary had taught with the gentleman before he moved his family to California many years ago. Their visit was a surprise but when the guests rang the doorbell, noone answered. Thinking Dad and Mary were gone, they began walking to their car when they spotted the farmer and his wife down the lane. They walked the lane and found the two doing surgery on a pear tree. Dad was on a ladder and Mary, his faithful helper, was steadying the thing. Of course the visit was of delight to the host and hostess but as Mary told them, we don't look very good and we are pretty sweaty but you are welcome to come in for coffee. (Grandma Mary always has goodies stored away for just such an occasion. She wins the hostess with the mostest award hands down.) A sweet time of fellowship was enjoyed by all. I got such delight thinking about the conversation the teacher and his wife must have had as they drove away. I can hear the chuckle as it probably went something like this,
"Wow, can you believe those two old people?
"No, how old do they think they are by now?"
"Well, he is somewhere in his eighties, she a bit younger."
"I hope when you and I are their age, we have the optimism for life they have."
"I don't think I'll ever forget the picture of those two in that tree."
"Quite the pair!" (Pear, get it?)