Golden Friendships

When you were in girl scouts, did you say the motto:  "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other gold"?  Well, we spent our last few days panning gold.

On Friday, we flew to the windy city, Chicago.  It was breezy, of course, but a beautiful spring day. After checking into the hotel, we hopped the east bound Metra train for center city.  Disembarking at the last stop, we caught a cab which took us to some long-time friends' penthouse condo on North Lake Shore Drive.

From the top floor of the prewar building, the views of Lake Michigan are postcard perfect.

You might think a large penthouse in a doorman-building would be intimidating, but our down-to-earth friends immediately put us at ease.  Their tasteful and comfortable interiors humanize the grand coffered ceilings and old wood paneling.  Toys for grandchildren, family pictures, and religious art reflect their values.  Besides, their gracious hospitality spilled over us making us feel welcome.

After hors d'oeuvres, we drove to Chicago's Symphony Hall where we dined before attending the concert. Before we ate, my husband's best man and our long time friend thanked the Lord for his grace in all of our lives.

Then we were treated to a performance conducted by the world renowned Riccardo Muti. He directed the orchestra in a premiere performance of Pulitzer-prize-winning-composer Bertrand Rands' Danza petrificada, followed by Strauss' Death and Transfiguration and Prokofiev's Suite from Romeo and Juliet.

After the concert, we caught a west-bound Metra train back to our hotel.

Saturday morning we drove over to Wheaton College, my husband's alma mater.  Wheaton is a family tradition.  His father and three of his aunts attended, and one of our daughter's followed their footsteps. (If you aren't familiar with Wheaton, Google to read its rich history. The Reverend Billy Graham and Jim and Elizabeth Elliot are among alumni who have lived the college motto, "For Christ and His Kingdom.")

At the Saturday morning class-of-'71-breakfast, we chatted with some of Bill's nearly sixty classmates in attendance and listened as each shared snippets of God's grace in their life. Afterward, we went to the luncheon for the entire alumni contingent. Impressively, there must have been over 500 former students present.  The oldest two alumni were from the class of 1936!

From there, we drove to another suburb to attend the wedding of our friends' son.

What a joy to see Peter Connelly marry Krissy Peters.  The bride's infectious enthusiasm seems to match Peter's sterling qualities. The reception was in a warehouse-turned-gallery, the perfect place to celebrate young Christian love.

Mother's Day morning dawned bright and clear.  After brunch hosted by the groom's parents, we drove east to O'Hare and caught a flight back to Pennsylvania.

This morning as I was reviewing the delightful weekend I was reminded of the last lines of the hymn "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken":

"Fading is the worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; 

solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion's children know."   

Lasting friendships grounded in Christ glittered this weekend. Such treasure is priceless.