Hello Guilda

When we first moved here fifteen years ago, I encountered a lady who would forever change my life. It was apparent from the get-go that she had a crazy sense of humor but I had no idea that she would bring me joy in my darkest days...a friendship that was more like family.     To look at us, you would never think that we would end up as close friends.  She was older by several years and she we didn't have a lot in common...or so we thought.

Not long after coming to Medart and meeting Anne,  Jeff decided that he would like to start a Wednesday night dinner to help build attendance for our midweek services.   We came from a large church in Georgia that had a successful Wednesday night dinner and although we knew we couldn't do it on that scale, we decided to start somewhere.   I called 3 or 4 ladies in the church and asked for their help.   For the first few weeks, we would cook everything at home and bring it to the church to serve...but then we decided to meet at the church and cook a meal from scratch.   Peggy Beck, Phyllis Lynn, Anne Stewart and I met one Wednesday afternoon in the tiny little kitchen in the back of the church building and we commenced to cooking a down-home meal for some hungry folks.

About an  hour into that endeavor, I decided that we needed some table decorations.  Something "fall"ish as the weather had changed.   I started digging through closets, looking for anything I could create a centerpiece with.   Before long, that little fellowship hall had been transformed and the other three ladies had finished cooking the meal.   They just looked at me and shook their heads...what would they do with me?   It was then that Anne turned to me and said, "That's beautiful, Guilda."   Guilda?   Who's Guilda?   I chalked it up to me being new and maybe reminding her of someone else but after she called me that several more times, I couldn't take it anymore.   I HAD to set her straight. So I said, "Um, you do know my name isn't Guilda, right?  It's Libby."   She just grinned at me and said, "Yeh, I know...GUILDA!...I call you that because you always gild the lily."   "I what?"  "You gild the lily."    I had never heard that term before which made her want to use it all the more.  When you "gild the lily", you adorn unnecessarily something already beautiful. The expression is a condensation of Shakespeare's metaphor in King John: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily ... is wasteful and ridiculous excess." i.e., you wouldn't need to add gold to a beautiful lily.  Over the next 15 yrs, she would refer to me as Guilda on several occasions.  It was her term of endearment for me.

Anne's dry sense of humor won me over right away, but it was her tenacity to persevere that truly let me know that we could be close friends.   On many occasions, I would volunteer for something that was way bigger than I could handle.  Anne always came to my rescue.  She would work tirelessly with little or no recognition,  except that I would tell her how much I loved her.   For ten years, she was my constant kitchen lady.   She cleaned up my messes and wrapped more green beans than anyone should do in a lifetime.   Once, we were catering a wedding and the air conditioner in the kitchen went out.  Peggy and Anne worked all day and night in that 900 degree kitchen and did not complain.  They just grabbed a fan and a bag of ice and made do.

My favorite memories of her though are the times that she was "Amelia Bedilia" incarnate!   It did not pay to have two conversations at once with Anne.   There was no telling what you might end up with.   She would probably kill me for saying this, but it needs to be told!! Once we were having a conversation about various weightloss measures we had tried.   I told her how I had been wrapped on a couple of occasions and then would put on a sweatsuit and work out.  This would make me sweat more and I would usually loose a couple inches off my thighs and midsection.    We also discussed a diet that I was on that called for me to drink several glasses of water everyday with a tsp of cayenne pepper in the water to raise my metabolism.   Later that night I got a call from Anne.  "What have you done to me?"   "I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"   "That diet idea you gave to me today...I think you have ruined me!!!"    Now, I was completely clueless to what she was talking about and then it hit me...oh no...she combined the conversations!   My crazy friend had just rubbed hot sauce all over her thighs and then wrapped them in Saran wrap!   She was ON FIRE!!!!  And all I could do was laugh!!   As a matter of fact, I'm giggling right now as I write this!

Last December, we were catering a Christmas dance for ROTC and her husband,  Mike called to tell me that she might not be able to make it.   She was having severe kidney pain and was going to the Dr. that day.   I knew it had to be bad for her to have to back out on me.   She pushed through and still made it before the event to help.   But something wasn't right.   We had no idea that cancer was ravishing her body at the moment.   In the weeks to come, we would realize that this nightmare was real.   Not only did my husband have cancer, so did my dear friend.

Yesterday, her struggle ended.   I will not say she lost her battle...she didn't.  She was victorious!  She won!  She is in heaven and nothing here can compare to what she is experiencing there.   We, however, now have to deal with the loss of such a beautiful, fun woman.   There is a void that deep.   Anne Stewart was the one of the strongest and most loving women I have ever known.   Everyone who knew her felt better just by being in her presence.   She may not have been perfect, but she was pretty darn close, if you ask me.

I have more Anne stories to share and you will probably hear those in the upcoming blogs.   Please pray for her family, Mike and Rebecca, and her brothers, sisters-in-love and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins.   The coming days will be incredibly hard.   We have a hope though, because we know who she put her faith in and we are persuaded that He is able!  We will see her again...we don't say goodbye...just see you later.