I love this story. Judy was in high school when we met. For all these years I've used the date 1973. But it has occurred to me that the year must have been 1972, when Judy was a junior. Her mother, Joy, and I taught at the same inner city middle school in the projects of Dallas. Joy, a talented artist and wonderful teacher, blessed her daughter and two sons with the same gift. In the late 1980s, Joy and Judy re-introduced me to New Mexico, a place that had been unrecognized epiphany when I was only nine, on a trip with my family to visit my daddy's brother in Santa Fe. Now, when I travel from New Mexico to my home in central Texas, once or twice a year, I usually spend time visiting Judy in Ft. Worth. It's a day or two or four of great reunion of friendship, celebration of art and treasure, good meals, and meeting of the minds. Forty-three years—that's a long and lovely time.
