To everything there is a season

Recently I've been running into alot of people from my past, people who I've just lost touch with. They were people who, for the time they were in my life, had a tremendous impact. I am blessed to have many lifelong friends, Tamara and Mama K are the big ones, that have been there for me for the long run(and hopefully I'm there for them as well). They are the ones that I know no matter what will stick by me, will give me a kick in the pants, who I can call and confess/tell anything to without fear that they are going to disown me. Sometimes though in the course of living you meet up with other people that can make you laugh till your face turns blue, give you a hug when you need one most, are able because of objectivity give great clarity and insight into your life. When they leave your life its not always because there was some trama/drama/fight; it could just be that you both moved on; and thats the way it is with these friends. I can look at them now without anger, resentment, hurt and just appreciate who they were to me for the time I had them. I've had some great memories come back to me in the past few days one of which I'm going to share now.
There was a woman that I knew when I was younger, I think I met her when I was 19 or so; she was the church secretary and just had a wonderful personality. I never really hung out with her one on one, but for some reason or another I was around her alot. She had a great deal of silliness in her but it was mixed with love and humility. I remember watching her interact with children and teenagers and wanting to emulate that acceptance in my life.
One specific memory pushes itself to the front of my mind. We had a missions trip to Jamaica and for some reason we were all sleeping in this big room on air mattresses, I think there were like 20-25 of us. Most of the people on the trip were high school age and if you've ever been on a trip with a group of high schoolers you know they can be pretty "rambunctious". I remember one night, Oak (which is this womans blog title) took a book from her suitcase called "The Three Tree's" and read it to us all. That book has since become one of my favorites, that I have given away as gifts and read to any little ones that I could pull around to listen. There is just something about that night that was great, a bunch of teens in Jamaica listening attentively to a children's book, I'll never forget it or Oak.