Mary and her husband Jim were working at their furniture store in Southeastern Texas when Mary’s friend, Opal, arrived. “Mary, you’ve got to come out to my van and hear a music tape that my friend Dorothy gave me!” So Mary stepped out and listened to the instrumental music in Opal’s van.  Opal had been going through a difficult time, and her friend Dorothy had heard someone play music in Louisiana and had shared the instrumental music tape with Opal as a gift of encouragement.

Several weeks later, Mary and Jim were due to travel from Texas to Mississippi for furniture market.  It was time for a rest stop, and the music was softly playing over the intercom when Mary and Jim entered the Louisiana cafeteria for their dinnertime meal.  Mary looked at her husband and smiled sweetly. “Listen, hon, they are playing the same music like the cassette tape Opal played for me in her van that day!” she said, as much to herself as to her husband.  They were about to be seated with their trays of food when Mary noticed me sitting there at my keyboards, playing one tune after another. “YOU ARE PLAYING THE MUSIC LIVE!” she exclaimed. I smiled in total agreement, as I looked up from my keyboards, not aware of the significance of that statement. “We thought it was a tape playing!” she explained.  It was a very special moment, and I remember it so clearly, to this day.

Before Mary and Jim departed from the cafeteria that day, we had exchanged addresses.  It was not long before the cards and letters of friendship began flowing between Mary and me, more and more. And little “thinking of you gifts” were not uncommon for us to share.  Each time she and Jim were passing through Louisiana, they tried to plan their trips so they could stop in and hear me play, or where we could meet in “town” for a brief visit.  The weeks turned into months, then years. It is ironic how a music tape given to one person as a gift of encouragement and her sharing that music tape with another person could help two complete strangers meet and become such dear, close friends as Mary and I, but that is the way it happened.

It’s a sweet story, but it does not stop there! It still amazes me how God works in our lives and brings people together! After ten years, I found out just recently who the lady in the story named Dorothy (the one who passed along my cassette tape) happens to be, and the irony of it all. I am told that Dorothy and her husband have a floral business in Texas, but she grew up in a small Louisiana community, where she still returns for visits. It was on one of those trips through Northern Louisiana to visit her hometown when she heard me entertain music and had requested one of my cassette tapes all those years ago. I do not know Dorothy; ours was only one short, chance meeting back then. So it was only recently that I became aware what town Dorothy goes to visit, and it immediately caught my attention…it is the same town where my mother’s family once lived!  

It turns out that not only do my mother and Dorothy know each other, but also my mother’s sister (Mary Agnes) and Dorothy stay in close touch with each other. And another irony is that their husbands were both injured in WWII and met while in the military hospital, which gives those couples two special connections.  But to my knowledge, Dorothy never associated me with my mother or my aunt and uncle. She simply had heard me entertain in the restaurant while passing through North Louisiana on her journey and wanted to give her Texan friend a “lift” by surprising her with a music tape.

My world just gets smaller and smaller!  Who would have ever dreamed such dear friendships could occur and be entwined because of one simple act of kindness?  Dorothy started a “snowball” of friendship to occur with her thoughtfulness in trying to cheer her friend and that friend in turn sharing it with Mary.  

I can say that Mary has definitely been the “angel” in my life.  I am so happy they stopped to eat at the cafeteria where I was performing that night and that she recognized the music as being the same as the cassette tape and took the time to talk to me.  We’ve “been there” for each other through “thick and thin.” She has been such a blessing in my life, and to think how one little music tape is what brought us together still amazes me.  It IS a small world!

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Copyright 2002 by Rita Spillers