The road to hell, and a pathway to "heaven".








Some of you may remember my references to Randie E, the wonderful Swedish born woman I used to  encounter in my morning walks..

I live at Glen Oaks Ridge, and Randie lived at the Glen Oaks Garden Condominiums.  

 Our serendipitous meetings were on the walkway around  the pond at Glen Oaks Manor.

I was drawn to her because she would "take time to smell the roses": that is that she would stop walking, and take a long pause to enjoy a tree in bloom, or an Osprey, Hawk,  or and Eagle high above.

She was never in a hurry.  Her walks were graceful and gracious times during which she fed her soul by a deep and careful appreciation of the natural world.

I visited her  a couple of times at her home, there to enjoy good coffee and fine pastries, with
profound conversation.

Came the time that Randie moved from her Condo to a Retirement Community, situated no more than two mies from my home.

I would pass this place at least twice a week, always with the intention to stop by and visit Randie.

But "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", and I never got to visit Randie.

I was careless, but "heaven" had other things in mind.

So it was that when I stopped by my local supermarket this afternoon, to pick up various bits and bobs, lo and behold, there was Randie with her loving gentleman friend,

We indulged in a "sniff-sniff, teary eyed" reunion.

Turns out that Randie has moved from the nearby Retirement Community to an Assisted Living facility some eight miles away.

But her loving gentleman friend is taking such good  care of her, to the extent that he had driven her to the supermarket which she knows well, even as they drove past three other markets in the same chain.

This is the fragile, serendipitous,  and elusive "pathway to heaven" via which Randie and I met again today,

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