Norman in Summerland

I was finishing up my lunch outside the building where I had been sent, by my boss, to do some annual training. I was staring up at the clouds which were hanging over me in nearly every quadrant of the blue sky above me when I noticed that most of my co-workers were heading back--en masse--to the building, so I gathered up my trash and began heading back myself.

My notebooks and pens were lying just where I left them in the front left section of our tables, so I sat down in the same spot and turned to talk with the person sitting behind me.   

My eyes stopped on an older man standing--with his hands behind his back--in an aisle between two rows of desks. He was wearing a gray cardigan and a pair of glasses. His wispy gray hair sparsely covered his head in just the way I had always remembered it doing. He was glancing around at nearly every student, smiling and nodding when he caught their eyes. I might have even heard him say to one of them, “Get ready! You’ll be taking copious notes this afternoon!”

It took me a moment, but I finally recognized that it was Norman Starling! I smiled because he had recently been in the hospital for serious health reasons. There had been some real concerns that he might not make it. I felt such intense joy to see him there: alive, well, healthy, and back to his old tricks--teaching young people about being decent human beings! He turned and saw me, and then smiled! I’m sure my smile grew much wider and tears started to form in the corner of my eyes. I put my right thumb, forefinger and pinky up in the sign language word for ‘I love you. He began walking up to me and I got out of my chair to meet him. I didn’t say a word. I just hugged him with all my might for several long moments. I felt his arms surround me and pat me on my back. I pulled back a little and looked up at him. I was still smiling (obvs!) and I said, “Norman! I’m so glad to see you. I’m SO glad that you are all right! I was really, really worried for a while there!”

Norman looked down at me, still smiling, and said, “Oh, I’m all right, Loralee. I’m all right.”

Then I awoke from my dream and realized that Norman wasn’t there with me and that he never would be again. He had died about two months before the night I had that dream, but, because our Norman--our friend, our teacher, our Christian leader--had been the godly man we knew him to be, he was, indeed, ‘All Right’ at that very moment. I can’t know for sure, but I’d almost bet he is sitting in Paradise next to Marshall Keeble or Garland Elkins or Carl Garner or Grady Moore or Abraham or the beggar, talking about God and the Bible and all things Good. 

Isaiah 25:8:  “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth; for The Lord has spoken.”

Beyond this Land of Parting

Beyond this land of parting, losing, and leaving

Far beyond the losses, darkening this

And far beyond the taking and the bereaving

Lies a summer land of bliss!

Land beyond, so fair and bright!

Land beyond, where is no night!

Summer land, God is it's light

Oh, happy summer land of bliss!

Beyond this land of toiling, sowing and reaping

Far beyond the shadows darkening this

And far beyond the sighing, moaning, and weeping

Lies a summerland of bliss!

Beyond this land of waiting, seeking, and sighing

Far beyond the sorrows darkening this

And far beyond the pain, and sickness and dying

Lies a summer land of bliss!

Land beyond, so fair and bright!

Land beyond, where is no night! 

Summer land, God is its light

Oh, happy summer land of bliss!