Reconnection

I was quickly checking my email on Christmas day, when I came upon an electronic card sent to me.  It was from someone I had not heard from in about 15 years.  It was a wow moment!  It came out of the blue.  She is someone I knew, and knew me, before I became "Father" to so many people.  It is precious to keep in my life the people who remind me of who I am without title or status or job.  Her card told me of how she saw me, rather than how I saw myself when I was younger, much younger.  She was thanking all those people who taught her how to love.  What a Christmas gift for me!  I too often dwell on my shortcomings.  I recalled myself as a bit self-imploded and selfish.  She remembers me as loving.  Do we not all need friends to help keep us in a balance about who we really are?  Maybe I am too close to myself to really know myself?  Anyway, the past can sometimes be a gift, depending on who brings it to me.