Remember how your mother always told you to dress up nicely when you went anywhere because you might run into someone important to you? Well, I don't know how well dressed I was after an unexpected visit to both the Nevada Regional Medical Center's Emergency Room and the St. John's Emergency room last Saturday night, but I have become a believer in the phrase.

Because Lester wasn't doing well we were advised by our doctor to go to the emergency room. There we found that fluid had gathered near his heart and the surgeon in Joplin wanted us to come there to have the area drained.

Everything has turned out well and Lester feels much better, thank you. He is even eating more and that looks good.

But in these trips we have run into several friends from the past that we had no idea were in Joplin. The first wasn't too surprising since Lester has served so many churches and filled in for other pastors. This was a member of one of the churches he served as an interim after his retirement. She is a volunteer at St. Johns and saw his name and came looking for him. Then she brought another member of that church by to see him also.

The ministers in the area did a good job of visiting him also, but again that was not surprising.

But in the middle of one night a nurse came into his room on duty. After some conversation they discovered that she had been a 4-H member in Cedar County when Lester was the Agricultural County Agent in that county. That was back in the middle '50s but she told him about memories she had of him and the 4-H projects she was doing. Even in his handicapped situation with recent surgery, he did remember the family and the little girl she was then.

It seemed hard to place her as a middle-aged nurse now tending to his physical needs.

During the daytime I would often steal down to the cafeteria to grab some food or just walk a little outside his room. As I got on the elevator one day I noticed a familiar looking woman looking at me. I thought it might be a member of one of the Joplin churches who remembered me and I smiled at her but then turned to talk to a little girl who was pushing the floor buttons for us. When she heard my voice the woman said, "Oh yes, you are Miriam's sister!" She had been trying to figure out why I looked familiar to her as I was with her. She had been the caregiver for my late sister during Miriam's last year. We were all very fond of her and I didn't know she now was living in Joplin and working at the hospital. We immediately stepped out of the elevator and caught each other up on our news. I was so glad I had taken that elevator.

Then today the chaplain of the hospital came to see us for the second time.

He asked some questions that seemed unusual under the circumstances and then turned and asked me what my name was. Soon after he left a woman came walking down the hall toward our room with a huge grin on her face. She works in the Pastoral Care office and had seen the name, Lester Thornton, and remembered a couple who were friends of her parents when she and her twin sister were little. She wanted to come see us but wasn't sure it could be us (she probably thought we should be dead by now). She asked the chaplain to find out if Lester had been a teacher and what his wife's name was. It turned out that we were indeed those friends of the school superintendent that Lester taught under years ago. Again we brought each other up to date and left with fond memories of two young families who had enjoyed being friends years ago.

I don't want to have to take anyone to the hospital again but if I can run into old friends it might not be too bad.