My parents had very close friends when I was kid, the Sadowski’s. Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy and Don and Cecilia Shepley were thick as thieves. Their friendship was so strong my parents asked Jim and Nancy to be my God parents.
Suddenly the Sadowski’s disappeared when my parents divorced. Two families always together for the first ten years of my life stopped seeing each other. I was a kid so I never knew why it happened, that was none of my business.
My dad started a new life with my step mother in Oak Park and my mom moved to Indianapolis. The Sadowski’s have been in the same house in Elmhurst all these years.
Last year their daughter Pam reached out through Facebook and we’ve been in contact since. I stopped by the house for a visit shorty after Pammy reached out.
When Terri and I were together we had dear friends, Dan and Jennifer Stacik. Terri and Jen went to KU together. We were thick as thieves throughout my marriage. Jen was Terri’s maid of honor in our wedding and we trusted them so much we asked them to be Hazel’s God parents.
When our marriage ended so did the friendship with Dan and Jen. I’m not sure why, but since the divorce I’ve been blocked. They aren’t close with Terri as well which means Hazel isn’t close with her God parents.
These two God Parent stories are both very similar and very sad.
For me the Sadowski’s went from being at every major event in my young life to missing all the major milestones during my later years.
Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy were sad last summer when I told them their dear friends, my parents are both in heaven.
Today Aunt Nancy is being waked at the funeral home in Elmhurst. Her funeral mass is tomorrow.
I’m not sure what is going on with Dan and Jennifer Stacik, they live in Downers Grove. They don’t talk to Terri much anymore and they are missing out on watching a beautiful girl grow up.
We’ve all had Jim and Nancy’s and Dan and Jennifer’s come into our lives. Paths cross throughout a lifetime and dead ends come out of nowhere.
Time doesn’t always heal wounds. My parents took their wounds to the grave and lost out on close friendship. I’ll never know why that happened.
Just another mystery in my life.
The odds are I’ll never have a beer with Dan and Jen won’t be around when Hazel goes to Prom.
Maybe the parallel God parent stories have similarities in your life? Do you have an Uncle Jim or a Dan Stacik that are missing out in your life?
Is there an Aunt Nancy or Jennifer Stacik several suburbs over that don’t see the struggles and triumphs in your life?
There is a reason why people come into our lives. There is also a reason why they leave.
Don’t let the reason be petty.
(I changed the names of Dan and Jennifer Stacik to protect their identity.)
