Chance Remarks

It was one of those phone calls which comes after a strange number shows up on the caller ID with no message, then a message with no real identification, just a guess on my part of who "Fred" is, and finally a real connection and a lovely time of catching up.

Fred was a high school student with my daughters more than 20 years ago. He had a little backyard frame shop and he assembled the chops I ordered from my wholesaler. It was a good deal for me and for him.

Now Fred has been painting. In spite of some teachers and a few family members who were discouraging, he travels and sells his work across the South in weekend festivals. He says he has a couple of my small paintings hanging in his house as a reminder that I was the first person to tell him that he could do anything he wanted to do. He seems happy.

Chance remarks of encouragement echoing through decades. Oh, my!

What chance remark will echo with Lucy for the next twenty years?