The Letter

The Letter

Noel Laflin

6-14-18

My old friend, Joanie, called me this morning to tell me about a handwritten letter she had just uncovered. I had written it to her forty-one years ago this summer.

As she read it aloud, the time frame and circumstances hauntingly came into focus.

It was a long letter filled with encouragement and thanks. I was a young Scout Executive at the time, hitting every goal in sight - consequently, thriving on the professional adrenaline rush of success.

But I was smart enough to know, even back then, that most of that success was due to Joanie. She was a relentless recruiter, fundraiser, cheerleader when I despaired, and personal confidant. When I left the profession feeling down and out, she never wavered in her friendship.

I am glad that Joanie Gribble and I have remained close throughout the years and that she, like me, saves old letters.

But I am even more pleased to know that the younger me was kind enough to thank and praise her accomplishments so effusively in real time.

I have often wondered if I really had.

That old letter helped put the question to rest.

Thank you, dear friend.