Fresh Faces

I was in a deep funk when I came home from work this afternoon. Long story that I won't go into here but let me just say that I didn't think that I would be home this afternoon.
I told you before that life has been hard lately and again, I am not going into all the reasons that it is hard right now. I was driving home from work and fighting back tears. I didn't get to eat lunch and I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my bag and I ate my sandwich as I was fighting back the tears. Grabbed my sunglasses so that no one could see that I was crying while I was eating my sandwich.
I pulled up in front of my house and my neighbors were sitting out on their front porch. They are a vital older couple who can make me laugh. I hadn't talked with them in a long time. I crossed the street and they immediately offered me a seat and a cup of coffee. I didn't take them up on the coffee but I did on the seat. I just wanted to spend some time in their presence. They told me some stories that I have heard them tell before but this afternoon it was heart lightening to hear those words again. They talked about our street before it was paved. And how if you wanted your street paved by the city your block had to come up with the money and if one person didn't want or couldn't pay then the little section right in front of their house wouldn't be paved...just to the middle of the street. What a funny picture. They had an 11x14 black and white photo of all the children in the neighborhood. A group shot taken in a break from play, probably around 1959 or 1960...teenagers down to toddlers. They said the kids played football all the time in the yard of the house next door to ours. The little kids would stand on the sidelines and when the big kids would run for a touchdown they had to tuck a little kid under their arm and run for the end zone. I would have loved to have watched those kind of games.
Bill and Doris gave me such joy today. I needed to hear stories about yesterday and not think about today so much.
Bill and Doris and all those kids will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day....those fresh faces from 1960...the year that I was born.