THE ROAD CALLED -- "LIFE".......................

          Life is a journey.  The journey is along the road called Life.

          We travel many roads in our life-time - rural routes, township roads, country roads, county roads, city streets, avenues, parkways, boulevards, state routes, interstate, just to name a few.  But we never, ever, get to travel all the roads. 
          The road called Life is different.  It is a road we begin upon our birth, and the destination is our death, where-upon our next journey begins.

          My journey has been years.  The destination is getting closer, but I am still going.  During my journey I have walked with many many other walkers, some family, some friends, some just acquaintances mostly strangers, sometimes pulling ahead, sometimes falling behind.

          I have one group that I have been traveling with called my "FESTIVAL FAMILY".  They are the friends I have found myself walking with during my journey, friends that maybe I only see once or twice, maybe three or four, times a year, as we are constantly taking different detours on our journey.  Some I see regularly, doing other fun things with besides the festivals, some I only see at festivals, or on special occasions.  Some I no longer see, and wonder, - "have they reached their destination, or are they still traveling, maybe ahead of me, maybe behind?"

          One of these friends is Judy Hopson.  We met many years ago at a festival.  She is a potter, beautiful creations made from clay.  She is very active in the art world, always has time to take children of all ages under her wing, letting them "throw the clay" on her potting wheel, showing them how to spin and shape the clay.  She will fire their piece of pottery, and they have a reminder of the wonders of that day.

          Judy lives in Washington, Pa.  We have done festivals together, I have some of her pottery.  She and her companion Bill bought my old tent.  I was going to quit outside shows, it is a real nuisance putting up and taking down a tent, but somehow came up with a new tent, so am still doing outside.  Bill told me a year ago, that the old tent had finally given up the ghost and they had bought a new one.

          I didn't see Judy and Bill at the Covered Bridge Festival in September at Mingo Park, Washington County, Pa., last year.  I wondered - they are usually there.

          Sometime later I received a phone call from another festival acquaintance.  She wanted me to know Judy had been diagnosed with, easy explanation, a malignant tumor on her brain. 

          I learned yesterday that her journey along the road named Life is coming to an end, the destination is in sight. 

          I feel a great sadness when I receive that type of news.  A friend, with great talent, is about ready to embark upon her new journey, along a new road called "Here-After". 

          And I wonder - where does the new road lead, how long a journey will that be, and will I, when my time arrives, be walking along-side others that have reach their journey's end.

          I am sharing two pictures here, one of Judy and one of her pottery, courtesy of her web-site.  

 
I would like to think that on her new road she will still be taking time with the children, letting them feel the wet clay, the shaping, the forming, the firing, and the finishing.  After all, that seems to have been her life's work on the road of Life. 

If you have time, please say a prayer for her and her family, and God Bless.