GETTING TO GLAD [T 3-9-21]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

GETTING TO GLAD   [T 3-9-21]

 

That would be a great title for a book or movie, Getting to Glad, about a prodigal daughter who grew up in the town of Glad [sounds like a place in Arkansas or Indiana, both of which have towns named Hope], and is trying to work her way back home. An expectable plot, but always a good one, especially with a country music background, since country music is always about trying to get home, while rock & roll is always about trying to get away from home.

I mean glad, though, in the sense of “glad I knew you.” I have thought about my friend, Bob Butts, a whole lot since he died in September, but especially at Super Bowl time, for Bob was the quintessential football fan. He had played football in high school and college in Mississippi, but, he once said, “Apparently I just didn’t get enough of it then.” He loved all football, especially MS State U football. But regardless of who was playing, he would watch all day, all night, all week, the huge TV he bought just for that purpose.

If MS State made it to a bowl game, he grabbed Kathy by the hair and off they went, and at least once a season, they went to a game in Starkville. Actually, he didn’t require Kathy to go, but she is always up for an adventure. Turns out now, though, that football games—in person or watching—were not the adventures she would have chosen first on her own.

It turns out I’m not as much of a football fan as I thought I was, either. I like it okay, especially IU football, and I’m delighted when William & Mary can beat the likes of the Michigan Wolverines, especially if William couldn’t play, because he was studying for a calculus test, but I realize now that a lot of my watching of football was just so I could do it with Bob.

I watched the Super Bowl, of course, something Bob and I used to do together, and I got to glad so much earlier than I had before. Usually when I think about one of my friends who has moved on, I stay in sad for a while before I get to glad. But this year, as I watched the Super Bowl, I realized I wasn’t sad. I was already glad. I was glad I got to know Bob, glad he was my friend, glad we got to have adventures together, even though some of them were just in recliners in front of the TV.

I don’t know if it’s Bob’s influence, but I find myself all the time now, when I think of a gone friend, going directly to glad. Thank you, Bob; it’s a great adventure, getting to glad.

John Robert McFarland